Chapter VI: Front Matter (6)

When it was once supposed that our continent was formerly the bottom of the sea, there was soon no doubt remaining thereon. The devastations of the sea, which are every where to be met with; the horizontal situation of the strata of the earth; and the correspondence of hills and mountains, appear as so many convincing proofs; for by examining the plains, vallies, and hills, we clearly perceive that the surface of the earth has been formed by the waters. It is equally evident, when we look into the interior parts of the earth, that those stones which contain sea-shells, have been formed by the sediments of the waters, since the shells are found filled with the same matter as that which surrounds them; and lastly, by reflecting on the corresponding angles of opposite hills, we cannot doubt that their directions are the works of the currents of the sea. It is true, that since the earth has been left uncovered, the original form of the surface has been constantly changing; the mountains have diminished in height; the plains have been elevated; the angles of hills become more obtuse; many matters washed away by floods, or rivers, have taken a round shape; beds of gravel, soft stone, &c. have been formed; but the essential matter is still remaining, the ancient form is still apparent, and I am persuaded that all the world may be convinced by their own inspection of what has been advanced on this subject; and whoever attends to the observations and proofs I have given, will not doubt, the earth was formerly covered by the waters of the sea, and that it is the currents of the sea which have given to the surface of the earth, the form we at present perceive.

The principal motion of the sea is, as we have already observed, from east to west. It also appears that the sea has gained above 500 leagues of ground on the eastern coasts of both the old and new continents; for the proofs of which we refer to those given in Article XI. and shall only add thereto, that all straits which join two seas, are directed from east to west; the straits of Magellan, Frobisher, of Hudson, of Ceylon, and those of the seas of Corea and Kamtschatka have all this direction, and appear to have been formed by the currents of the waters, which being impelled from east to west, opened these passages in the same direction, and in which they preserve a more considerable motion than in any other; for in these straits there are high and violent tides, whereas in those situated on the western coasts, like that of Gibraltar, Sund, &c. the motion of the tides is almost insensible.

The inequalities of the bottom of the sea change the direction of the water's motion; they have been successively produced by the sediments of the water, and by matters transported by the tides or other motions; for we do not consider the motion of the tides as the sole cause of those inequalities, but only as the principal and first, because it is the most constant and acts without interruption; the action of the winds is another cause; the action of which beginning at the surface, extends to considerable depths, as is plain from the matters that are loosened and thrown up by a storm from the bottom of the sea, and which never happens but in tempestuous weather.

We have already mentioned that between the tropics, and even some degrees beyond them, an east wind continually blows; this wind, which contributes to the general motion of the sea from east to west, is as ancient as the flux and reflux, since it depends on the rarefaction of the air, produced by the heat of the sun. Here then are two united causes of motion, the greatest of which is near the equator. The first, the tides which are more sensibly felt in southern latitudes: and the second, the east wind which blows continually in the same climates. These two causes have concurred, ever since the formation of the globe, to produce a motion in the waters from east to west, and to agitate them more in that part of the globe than in all the rest. It is for this reason that the greatest inequalities of the surface of the globe are found between the tropics. The part of Africa, comprehended between these two circles, is only a group of mountains whose different chains extend for the most part from east to west, as is evident from the direction of the great rivers of this part of the world; it is the same with those parts of Asia and America which are comprised between the tropics.

From the combination of the general motion of the sea from east to west, with the flux and reflux of the currents, and the winds, an infinite number of different effects has resulted, both on the bottom of the sea, and on the coasts. Varenius says, it is very probable that the gulphs and straits have been formed by the reiterated efforts of the ocean against the land; that the Mediterranean sea, the gulphs of Arabia, Bengal, and Cambay, have been formed by the eruption of the waters, as well as the straits between Sicily and Italy, between Ceylon and India, between Greece and Euboea, and that it is the same with respect to the straits of the Manillas, Magellan, &c. that one proof of these eruptions, and that the sea has forsaken different lands is, that but few islands are to be met with in the great seas, and never a great number of islands close to each other; that in the immense space occupied by the Pacific sea, not above two or three small islands are to be found towards the middle of it; that in the vast Atlantic ocean, between Africa and the Brazils, we only find the small islands of St. Helena and Ascension; but that all islands are near the great continents, as those of the Archipelago, near the continents of Europe and Asia, the Canaries, near Africa, all the islands of the Indian sea, near the eastern coast of Asia; the Antille islands, close to that of America, and that only the Azores lie at any great distance in the sea between Europe and America.

The inhabitants of Ceylon say, that their island was separated from the peninsula of India by an eruption of the ocean; and this popular tradition is very probable. It is also imagined the island of Sumatra has been separated from the continent, and the great number of shoals and sand banks are a strong proof of it. The Malabars assert, that the Maldivian islands formed a part of the continent of India, and in general it may be reasonably supposed that all the eastern islands have been divided from the continents by eruptions of the ocean.[AQ]

[AQ] See Varenius Geography, page 203, 217, and 220.

There is an appearance that formerly the island of Great Britain was part of the continent, and that England was joined to France; the similarity of the stones on the two coasts, and the narrowness of this strait seem plainly to indicate it. By supposing, says Dr. Wallis, "that England formerly communicated with France, by an isthmus between Dover and Calais, it must follow that the sea would be carried against both sides of it with great violence by the tides twice in every twenty-four hours, the German ocean, which is between England and Holland, striking of it on the eastern side, and that of France on the west, would be sufficient in time to wear away so narrow a neck of land, as we have supposed. The tides acting with great violence, not only against this isthmus but also against the coasts of France and England, must have washed away a great quantity of sand, earth, and clay, from every part against which the sea was forced: but, being stopt in its course, it would not deposite, as might be supposed, their sediments against this isthmus, but transported them into the great plain that now forms Romney Marsh, which is eight miles long by four broad; for whosoever has seen this plain, cannot doubt but that it was formerly covered with the sea, as it would be still overflowed by spring tides if it was not for the Dikes of Dimchurch."

The German sea must have acted in the same manner against this isthmus, and the coasts of England and Flanders would convey its sediments into Holland and Zealand, the ground of which, though formerly covered with water, is now forty feet above. On the coast of England, the German sea must have filled up that large valley, where the river Stour actually flows for more than 20 miles, beginning at Sandwich, passing Canterbury, Chatham, Chilham as far as Ashford. At this place the ground is much higher than it was formerly, since at Chatham the bones of an hippopotamus were found seventeen feet deep in the earth, together with anchors and marine shells.

It is very probable the sea may form new land, by bringing and depositing, at particular places, sand, earth, mud, &c. for in the island of Orkney, which is adjacent to Romney Marsh, there was a tract of low land continually in danger of being inundated by the river Rother; but in less than 60 years this ground has been considerably elevated by quantities of earth and mud being brought thither every tide, and the channel through which it enters, in less than fifty years has deepened so much as to admit of the reception of large vessels, whereas at that time it was a ford over which people might pass.

In this manner, the sand bank was formed which extends obliquely from the coast of Norfolk to that of Zealand. This bank forms that part where the tides of the German and French sea meet, since the isthmus has been broken, and where the earth and sand are deposited which are washed away from the coasts; nor is it by any means improbable but that in the course of time this bank may become an isthmus.[AR]

[AR] See Abridgment of Philosophical Transactions, vol. II. page 227.

There is a great appearance, says Ray, that the island of Great Britain was formerly joined to France, and formed part of that continent: but it is not known whether its separation was caused by an earthquake, an eruption of the ocean, or by the labour of man; but that this island formed part of the continent is evident, from the rocks and coasts of both being of the same nature, composed of the same matters, and exactly of the same height; the length of the rocks, along these coasts, are also nearly the same, about six miles on either side. The little breadth of the channel, which in this part is not more than twenty-four English miles, and its shallowness, comparatively with the neighbouring sea, is another reason to suppose that England has been divided from France by accident. We may add to these proofs, that there were formerly wolves and bears in this island; it is not to be presumed that they could swim over, nor that men transported such destructive animals; for in general we find the noxious animals of the continent in the adjacent islands, and never in those which are separated from them by a great distance; as the Spaniards remarked when they landed in America.[AS]

[AS] See Ray's Discourses, page 208.

In the reign of Henry I. King of England, a great inundation happened by an eruption of the sea in part of Flanders. In 1446 by a like eruption 10,000 persons were drowned in the territory of Dordrecht, and more than 100,000 round Dullart, Friezeland, and in Zealand. In these last two provinces upwards of 300 villages were overflowed; the tops of their towers and steeples are still to be seen rising out of the water.

From the coasts of France, England, Holland and Germany, the sea has retreated in many parts. Hubert Thomas relates, in his description of Liege, that the sea formerly surrounded the walls of the city of Tongres, which is now more than 35 leagues distant from it; this he proves by many eligible reasons, and, among others, he says; that in his time the iron rings, to which the ships were moored, were to be seen remaining in the walls. We may likewise look on as lands deserted by the sea, the fens of Lincoln in England, Provence in France, and which has also very considerably retreated from the mouth of the Rhone since the year 1665. In Italy a considerable tract of land has been gained at the mouth of the Arno; and Ravenna, formerly a sea-port, is no longer a maritime town. Holland appears to be an entire new country, where the surface of the earth is almost on a level with the sea, although the land is considerably elevated by the daily deposit of mud and earth from the Rhine, Maese, &c. for it was formerly computed that the ground of Holland was, in many places, 50 feet lower than the bottom of the sea.

It is asserted, that in the year 860, a furious tempest drove on the coast so great a quantity of sand that it shut up the mouth of the Rhine, near the Cat, and that this river inundated the whole country, tore up trees and houses, and, at last, emptied itself into the channel of the Maese. In 1421 another inundation separated the town of Dordrecht from the main land, submerged 72 villages, many castles, and drowned 100,000 souls, beside a great number of cattle. The dyke of Yssel was broken in 1638 by the ice brought down by the Rhine, which, having shut up the passage of the water, made an opening of some fathoms, and a great part of the province was overflowed before the breach could be repaired. In 1682 there was a similar inundation in the province of Zealand, which destroyed upwards of 30 villages, and drowned a considerable number of people and cattle, from their being surprised by the waters in the night. It was a fortunate circumstance for Holland that a south wind opposed the inroad of the sea, for it was so greatly swelled that the water was 18 feet higher than the highest ground of the province.[AT]

[AT] See the Historical Voyages of Europe, vol V. page 70.

At Hithe, in the county of Kent, the harbour has filled up in defiance of every expence and precaution that was made to prevent it. A surprising number of sea-shells, &c. are met with for several miles round, which were formerly heaped together, and which are now covered by earth, and are beautiful meadows. On the other side the sea has gained in several places, as for instance, the Goodwin Sands, which was an estate belonging to an Earl of that name, but at present is no more than sand covered by the waters of the sea: thus the sea in many places gains on the land and loses in others, according to the different situation of the coasts, and other circumstances.[AU]

[AU] See Abridg. Philosophical Trans. vol. IV. p. 234.

On Mount Stella, in Portugal, is a lake in which the wrecks of ships have been found, notwithstanding this mountain is more than 12 leagues from the sea.[AV] Sabinius, in his Commentaries on Ovid's Metamorphoses, says, that in the year 1460 a ship, with its anchors, was found in a mine of the Alps.

[AV] See Gordon's Geography, page 149.

It is not in Europe alone we meet with these vicissitudes of land into sea and sea into land; other parts of the world might furnish more remarkable, and in a greater number, if investigated with precision.

Calecut was formerly a famous city and the capital of a kingdom of that name; at present it is only a trifling town, meanly built, and but thinly inhabited: the sea, which for a century has gained greatly on this coast, has overflowed the greatest part of the old city, with a beautiful fortress of stone which was therein. Vessels at present moor on their ruins, and the port is filled with a great number of shoals, and on which ships are frequently wrecked.[AW]

[AW] See Letters Edifiantes Recueil 11. page 187.

The province of Jucatan, a peninsula in the gulph of Mexico, was formerly a part of the sea. This neck of ground extends 100 leagues in length, and is not more than 25 leagues at its greatest breadth. The air is perfectly hot and moist. Although there are neither rivulets nor rivers throughout so long a space, the water is every where so nigh the surface as to furnish plenty; and, by opening the earth, so great a number of shells are found as to leave no doubt that this great extent may be regarded as a place which formerly was part of the sea.

The inhabitants of Malabar pretend that formerly the Maldivian islands were attached to the Indian continent, and that the violence of the sea has divided them from it. The number of these islands is so great, and some of the channels, which separate them, are so narrow, that the boltsprits of vessels which pass them tear off the leaves of the trees on each side, and in some places an active man, by holding by the branch of a tree, may leap into another island.[AX]

[AX] See the Dutch Travels to the East-Indies, page 274.

The cocoa-trees, which are at the bottom of the sea, is a proof that the Maldivians were formerly part of the continent: cocoa-nuts are often detached from them and thrown on the shore by a storm.

It is imagined that the island of Ceylon was formerly united to the continent, and that the currents, which are extremely rapid in many parts of India, have divided that as well as Rammanakoil, and many other islands.[AY] However, it is certain that the island of Ceylon has lost 30 or 40 leagues of ground towards the north-west side, which the sea has gained.

[AY] See the Dutch Travels to the East-Indies, vol. II. p. 486.

It appears that the sea has recently forsaken a great part of the projecting lands and islands of America. We have just observed, that the ground of Jucatan is filled with shells. It is the same with the low lands of Martinico and the other Antille islands. The inhabitants have termed the earth below the surface lime, because they make their lime with these shells, considerable banks of which are found immediately under the vegetable earth. In the new voyages to the islands of America it is said, "lime, which is found in the land of Guadaloupe, when the earth is turned up, is of the same kind as that drawn out of the sea, the reason of which is difficult to be assigned. Might it not be possible, that all the extent of ground, which composes this island, was, in former times, only a high ground filled with lime-plants, which having grown and filled the void spaces that were occupied by the water, have raised up the ground, obliged the water to retire, and leave all the superficies dry? This conjecture, as extraordinary as at first it may appear, has, nevertheless, nothing impossible in it; and if the people who reside there were to dig in different parts of the earth they would discover what the real soil is, and by that means destroy or strengthen my conjecture."

There are some lands which are sometimes covered with water and sometimes uncovered, as many islands in Norway, Scotland, Maldivias, the gulph of Cambaya, &c. The Baltic has, by little and little, gained a great part of Pomerania, and covered and destroyed the famous port of Vineta. So likewise the sea of Norway has projected into the continent, and formed many small islands. The German sea has projected into Holland near Cat, insomuch that the ruins of an ancient citadel of the Romans, which was formerly on the coast, are now very far in the sea. The marshy grounds in the Isle of Ely, in England, and those in Provence, in France, are, on the contrary, as we have observed, land which the sea has abandoned. Downs have been formed by the sea-winds, which have thrown and accumulated earth, sand, shells, &c. on the shore. For example, on the western coast of France, Spain, and Africa, durable and violent westerly winds reign, which impel the waters towards the shore with great impetuosity, and on which coasts downs are very frequent. In the like manner the easterly winds, when they remain any long time, so strongly drive the waters from the coasts of Syria and Phoenicia that the chain of rocks, which are covered with water during the westerly winds, are left quite dry. Thus downs are never composed of stone, or marble, like mountains formed in the bottom of the sea, because they have not been long enough under the water. In our discourse on minerals we shall shew that the sea possesses the power of petrifaction, and that the stones formed in the earth are quite different from those formed in the sea.

When I had just finished my Theory of the Earth, which I composed in 1744, I received from Mons. Barrere, his dissertation on the origin of figured stones, and I was pleased to find myself of the same opinion with this able naturalist, on the subject of the formation of downs, and the time the water remained on the earth which we inhabit; he recounts many alterations which have happened to the sea coasts: "_Aiguis-mortes_, which is now more than a league and a half from the sea, was a port in the time of St. Louis: Psalmodi was an island in 815, and at present it is inland two leagues from the sea. It is the same with respect to Maguelone. The greatest part of the vineyards of Agde, was forty years ago covered by the sea: and in Spain the sea has considerably retreated within a short space of time from Blancs, Badalona, the mouth of the river Vobregat, Cape Tortosa, along the coasts of Valentia, &c.

"The sea may form hills and mountains in many different manners; first, by the transportations of earth, sand, and shells, from one place to another; secondly, by depositing sediments, consisting of small particles detached from the coasts and bottom, and which it might have transported from a considerable distance; and lastly, by sand, mud, and other articles, which the sea winds often drive against coasts, downs and hills may be produced, which the water forsaking, by degrees, become parts of the continent." The downs of Flanders and Holland are of this kind, being only hills composed of sand and shells, which the sea winds have driven towards the land. Mons. Barrere quotes another example which merits a place in this work. "The sea, by its motion, detaches from its bottom an infinity of plants, shells, slime, and sand, which the waves and winds continually drive towards the shore. Now, all these different operations must continually form new strata, elevate the beds of earth, gradually raising downs and hills, retrenching the bounds of the ocean, and by that means extending the lands on the continents."

"It is visible that new strata have been successively formed by the same reiterated motion of the waters from the deposition of sediments and other constant causes from time immemorial; of which I find strong proofs in the different beds of fossils, shells, and other marine productions found in Roussillon near the village of Naffiac, about seven or eight leagues from the sea; these beds of shells which are inclined from the west to the east, and in different angles, are separated from each other by banks of sand and earth, are sometimes from one and a half to two or three feet in thickness. They appear as if sprinkled with salt in dry weather, and form together hillocks from twenty-five to thirty fathoms in height: now a long chain of hills of such an height can only be formed gradually, and at different successions of time. Such might be the effect of an universal deluge, which must have disturbed all nature; but which could not have given a regular form to these different beds of fossil shells, but would have jumbled them together without any order or regularity."

On this subject I am perfectly of the same opinion as M. Barrere, excepting as to the formation of mountains, which I cannot agree ought to be entirely attributed to the causes which occasion the ocean to gain upon the land on some parts, and lose it upon others. As I am, on the contrary, of opinion, I could produce many convincing arguments to prove that most of the eminencies seen on the surface of the earth have been actually formed in the sea itself. First, because they have a correspondence of saillant and returning angles, which necessarily implies the cause we have assigned, that is, the motion of the currents. Secondly, because downs and hills, which are formed by the materials that the sea brings on its shores, are not composed of marble and hard stone, like common hills; the shells also in the former are generally only fossils, whereas in the latter, the petrifaction is compleat; besides the beds of earth are not so horizontal in downs as in the hills composed of marble and hard stone, but are more or less inclined, as in the hills of Naffiac, whereas in the hills and mountains, formed under the water by the sediment of the sea, the strata are always parallel, and very often horizontal, and the shells and other marble are entirely petrified. I have no doubt of proving that marble and other calcinable matters, which are almost all composed of madrepores, astroites, and shells, have acquired their hardness and perfection at the bottom of the sea; on the contrary, gravel, soft stones, incrustations, stalactites, &c. which are also calcinable and found in the earth, and formed since our continent has been discovered, cannot acquire this degree of hardness and petrifaction which marble or hard stones have.

In the history of the French Academy for 1708, may be seen the observations of Saulmon, on the subject of the galets found in many places. These galets are round and flat flints very smooth, and which are cast on the shores by the sea. At Bayeux, and at Prutel, which are a league from the sea, we find them in digging wells or pits. The mountains of Bonneuil, Broie, and Quesny, which are eighteen leagues from the sea, are all covered with galets; they are also found in the valley of Clermont in Beauvois. M. Saulmon likewise relates, that a hole, 16 feet deep, was bored horizontally into the beach of Tresport, which is soft earth, and that it entirely disappeared in 30 years: so that if the sea always encroaches alike, it would gain half a league in 12,000 years.

The motions of the sea are therefore the principal causes of the alterations which have happened, and which daily happen on the surface of the globe. But there are many, other causes, which, though less considerable, contribute to those changes. Running waters, rivers, streams, the melting of snow, torrents, frosts, &c. have occasioned many changes; the rains have diminished the height of mountains; rivers and rivulets have raised plains, and stopped up the sea at their mouths; the melting of snow, and torrents, have dug hollows in vallies; and the frosts have split rocks and separated them from their former stations. We might quote an infinity of examples on the alterations these causes have occasioned. Varenius says, that rivers convey into the sea great quantities of earth, which they deposit at a greater or less distance from the coasts, according to the rapidity of their currents; these earths fall to the bottom of the sea, and, at first, form those small banks which daily encrease, become shoals, and, at last, form islands, which are fertile and inhabitable. This is the manner in which the islands of the Nile are formed, as well as those of St. Laurence, the Isle of Landa, situate on the coast of Africa, near the mouth of the river Coanza, the island of Norway, &c.[AZ] To these may be added the island of Trong Ming, at China, which has been gradually formed by the earth that the river Nankin has brought and deposited it at its mouth. This island is more than 20 leagues long by five or six broad.[BA]

[AZ] See Varenni Geograph. page 214.

[BA] See Letters Edifiantes, Recueil xi. page 234.

The Po, Trento, Athesis, and other rivers of Italy, bring with them great quantities of earths into the lakes of Venice, especially during the time of inundations, which, in course of time, must fill them up. In many places they are now dry at low water, and, excepting the canals, which are kept up at a great expence, have no depth of water.

At the mouths of the Nile, the Ganges, the Indus, the Plata, the Nankin, and of many other rivers, the earth and sand deposited form considerable banks. Loubere, in his Voyage to Siam, says, that the banks of sand and earth daily increase at the mouths of the great rivers of Asia, insomuch that the navigation of them becomes every day more difficult, and will one day be impassable. The same remark may be made of the large rivers of Europe, and particularly of the Wolga, which has more than 70 mouths in the Caspian sea, and of the Danube, which has seven in the Black sea, &c.

As it seldom rains in Egypt the regular inundations of the Nile proceed from the torrents which fall therein from Ethiopa. These annually bring with them great quantities of mud, which they not only deposit on the land of Egypt but even throw to a considerable distance in the sea, and thus lay the foundation of a new land, which, in the course of time, arises therefrom; for, by sounding with the lead, we find, at more than 20 leagues distance from the coast, the mud of the Nile at the bottom of the sea, and which is every year increasing. Lower Egypt, where[BB] Dela at present stands, was formerly a gulph of the sea. Homer tells us that the island of Pharos was 24 hours voyage from Egypt, and at present it is almost contiguous to it. The soil of Egypt has not the same depth of good ground throughout its extent, it lessens as we approach the sea. Near the borders of the Nile there is sometimes near thirty feet depth of good earth, whereas at the extremity of the inundation there is scarcely more than seven inches.[BC] The town of Damietta, at present more than 10 miles from the sea, in 1243 was a sea-port. The town of Fooah, which, 300 years ago, was situate at the mouth of the Canopic, a branch of the Nile, is now more than seven leagues from it. Within 40 years the sea has retreated half a league from before Rosetta and Idern.

[BB] See Diodorus de Suc, lib. 3. Aristotle, lib. 1. of Meteors, h. xiv. Herodotus, f. 4, 5, &c.

[BC] See Shaw's Travels, vol. II. page 185, and 186.

The great rivers of America, and even those which have been but lately discovered, have suffered great alterations at their mouths. Charlevoix, speaking of the river Mississipi, says, that at its mouth, below New Orleans, the country forms a point of land which does not appear to be very ancient, for by digging but a little into the earth water is met with; besides, the quantity of small islands which have recently been formed at all the mouths of this river, leaves no doubt of this neck of land being formed after the same manner. It appears certain, says he, that when M. de la Salle went down the Mississipi, to the sea, the mouth of this river was not as it is at this present time.

"The nearer we approach towards the sea, adds he, the more it becomes perceptible, the bar has scarcely any water in most of the small outlets which the river has opened, and which have multiplied so greatly from the trees that are carried along with the currents, one of which stopt in a part where it is shallow, will entangle hundreds. I have seen, continues he, 200 leagues from New Orleans, collections of trees, one of which would have filled all the timber-yards of Paris. Nothing can set them free; the mud which the river brings down serves to cement, and, by degrees, covers them. Each inundation leaves a new stratum, and, after 10 years, shrubs and vegetables grow thereon: after this manner most points and islands are formed, which so often change the course of rivers."[BD]

[BD] See Charlevoix Travels, vol. II. page 440.

Nevertheless all the changes which rivers cause are very slow, and become not considerable till after a long series of years: but quick and sudden changes have happened by inundations and earthquakes. The ancient Egyptian priests, 600 years before the birth of Christ, asserted, according to the Timæus of Plato, that there was a great island near Hercules Pillars; called _Atlantis_, which was larger than Lybia and Asia taken together; and that this island was buried under the waters of the ocean after a great earthquake. "Traditur Atheniensis civitas restitisse olim innumeris hostium copiis quæ, ex Atlantico mari profectæ, prope cunctam Europam Asiamque obsederunt; tunc enim fretum illud navigabile habens in ore et quasi vestibulo ejus insulam quam Herculis columnas cognominant; ferturque insula illa Lybiâ simul et Asiâ Major fuisse, per quam ad alias proximas insulas patebat aditus, atque ex insulis ad omnem continentem è conspectu jacentem vero mari vicinam: sed intrà os ipsum portes augusto sinu traditur, pelagus illud verum mare, terra quoque illa verè erat continens, &c. Post hæc ingenti terræ motu jugique diei unius et noctis illuvione factum est, ut terra dehiscens omnis illos bellicosos absorberet, et Atlantis insula sub vasto gurgite mergeretur." _Plato in Timæus._ This ancient tradition is not absolutely contrary to all probability. The earths which were absorbed by the waters are perhaps those which join Ireland to the Azores, and those to the continent of America; for in Ireland there are the same fossils, shells, and marine productions as in America, some of which are different from any found in other parts of Europe,

Eusebius relates two testimonies on the subject of deluges: one of which is Melo, who says that the plains of Syria had formerly been laid under water; the other is Abydenus, who says, that in the time of King Sisithrus there was a great deluge, which had been predicted by Saturnus, Plutarch _De Solestia Animalium_. Ovid, and other mythologists, speak of the deluge of Deucalion, which, according to them, was in Thessaly, about 700 years from the universal deluge. It is also asserted that there had been one more ancient in Attica, in the time of Ogiges, about 230 years before that of Deucalion.

In the year 1095 there was a deluge in Syria, which drowned a number of people.[BE] In 1164 there was so considerable a one in Friezeland, that all maritime coasts were covered, and several thousands of the inhabitants drowned.[BF] In 1218 there was another inundation which destroyed near an hundred thousand people. There are a multitude of other examples of great inundations, like that of 1604 in England, and many more.

[BE] See Alsted. Chron. chap. 25.

[BF] See Krank, Lib. 5, cap. 4.

A third cause of the change on the surface of the globe, are impetuous winds. They not only form downs and hills on the sea shores, but they often stop and choak up rivers, and change their directions; they tear up cultivated land, destroy trees, overthrow edifices, and cover entire countries with sand. We have an example of these inundations of sand on the coasts of Britany in France: the history of the Royal Academy at Paris, anno 1722, makes mention of it in the following terms.

"In the environs of St. Paul de Leon, in Lower Britany, there is a quarter near the sea, which before the year 1666, was inhabited; but is so no longer, by reason of a sand which covers it to the height of more than twenty feet, and which gains ground every year. Reckoning from that time it has proceeded upwards of six leagues into the country, and is now not more than about half a league from St. Paul, so that according to all appearance that town must soon be deserted. The tops of some steeples and chimnies are still seen peeping out of this sea of sand; the inhabitants of the interred villages have always had sufficient time to quit their houses in safety.

"An east or north wind increases this calamity, by raising up a sand of a very fine nature, which sweeps it away in such great quantities, and with such velocity, that M. Deslandes, to whom the academy are indebted for this observation, when walking in that country during an east wind, was obliged, from time to time, to wipe it off his hat and cloaths they were so loaded with sand, and felt so heavy. Besides, when this wind is violent, it throws this sand over a small arm of the sea into Roscof, a small port much frequented by foreign vessels; the sand collects in their streets to the height of two feet, and the inhabitants are obliged to have it carted away. There are many ferruginous particles in this sand, which are easily discovered by a magnet.

"The coast which furnishes this sand extends from St. Paul as far as Plouefoat, somewhat more than four leagues. The disposition of the place is such that only the east or the north-east wind can convey the sand over the lands. It is easy to be conceived how the sand, conveyed and accumulated by the wind in one part, can again be taken up by the same wind and carried farther, and that the sand can thus advance into and cover the country while the mine which furnishes it continues unexhausted; for without this the sand, by advancing, would always diminish in height, and would cease its destructive ravages. Now it is but too possible that the sea throws up or deposits new sand in the place from whence the wind raises it up, and therefore the dreadful effects may long continue.

"The disaster is but of modern date, possibly the shoal which furnishes it has not yet a sufficient quantity to lift itself above the surface of the sea, or perhaps the sea has but just left it uncovered. There has been some alteration on the coast, and the sea at present reaches, at high water, half a league beyond certain rocks that formerly it never passed.

"This unhappy province justifies what the ancient and modern travellers relate concerning the tempests of sand in the deserts of Arabia, in which cities and armies have been enveloped and destroyed."

Mr. Shaw tells us that the ports of Laodicea, Jebila, Tortosa, Rowada, Tripoli, Tyre, Acra, and Jaffa, are all filled up with sand brought thither by the great waves which beat on that side of the Mediterranean when the west wind blows impetuously.[BG]

[BG] See Shaw's Travels, vol. II.

It is useless to give a greater number of examples of the alterations that have happened on the surface of the globe. Fire, air, and water, produce continual changes, which become very considerable by time. It is not from general causes alone, whose effects are periodical and regular, that the sea successively takes the place of the earth, and forsakes its own dominions. There are a number of particular causes which contribute to these mutations, such as earthquakes, inundations, sinking of mountains, &c. Thus the most solid thing, at least to our conception, like the rest of nature, undergoes continual and perpetual vicissitudes.