and around Otaheite; and fouth to Terra del Fuego. Mountains of fnow are alfo general; thus many tracts of land, in all climates, are kept aloof from mankind: whether to feclude from the prying eye of curiofity the greater operations of nature, or whether as inftruments of correction to mankind, we know not: but while Providence thus clothes with terrors these barren and defolate mountains, or rather, perhaps, while these barren and defolate mountains, naturally the refidence of terrors, are forced to contribute that fhare to the general welfare, of which leffer elevations are incapable, let us gratefully remember the contraft between them and our favourite refidences (hills); these, though less lofty, lefs majestic, less folemn, are infinitely more pleafing, more falubrious, more fertile; here we feel the pleasures of existence, here we breathe purer air, we enjoy furrounding prospects, delighted with their diverfity and extent; and here, whatever, in vegetable fertility and luxuriant herbage, may refresh or fupport us, we enjoy without anxiety, and cultivate without apprehenfion.

I have often wondered how the inhabitants of Vesuvius could live in any kind of comfort, knowing that immediately beneath them are beds of dreadful combustibles: yet most of Vefuvius is cultivated (and from its grapes are made rich and delicious wines);-fo greatly does intimacy with danger leffen apprehention of it! It is, nevertheless, a pleasing reflection, that the labour we bestow has a profpect of permanence; that for years to come we may enjoy the fruit of prefent exertions; a reflection to which a Vefuvian is a stranger; PART II.

who,

who, though he labour in planting his vines, is uncertain whether he shall taste their produce, or shall see them confumed by volcanic eruptions. Such kind of forecast and reafoning is in foreign climates thought right-down English: be it so; let them, if they please, pass to-day, without confideration of the morrow, fince why should they estimate what is fo precarious? Ever may it be the happiness of this favoured ifland, that the fecurity of time prefent extends alfo to time future, and that to calculate for diftant periods is but reasoning from paft experience, is but fuppofing the continua tion of what we have been accustomed to enjoy, at once regu lar, animating, and natural.

LECTURE

LECTURE II.

LADIES and GENTLEMEN,

WE

E have hitherto examined merely the fuperficial appearance of our globe, as it ftrikes the view of a diftant fpectator: We propofe now, as it were, to alight upon it, and explore fomewhat more intimately its structure and its receffes. I might, indeed, add much to what I have already faid, in tracing a gradation from mountains to hills, and from rivers to rivulets; or, following a ftream from its origin to its termination, I might point out its adventures (fo to exprefs myself), winding now gentle and ferene in one clear unruffled progrefs, divided elsewhere by numerous iflands; fometimes oppofed by jutting rocks, and falling in tremendous agitation to unknown depths; or finking beneath the earth, and continuing its progrefs fecluded from obfervation; perhaps, after an interval of many miles, rifing again to light; not gradually, as a fountain, but fuddenly, as a river. Most of these instances our own country affords, nor are they infrequent throughout the globe.

Thofe circumftances, thus hinted, juft to enliven your recollection, I fhall advert to what, perhaps, fhould have been formerly noticed--the proportion of land and water appointed

to

to our habitation. Thofe who have attended to this, inform us, that the fea has three times the furface of the land; and Dr. LONG mentions, his taking the paper of a terrestrial globe, and feparating the land from the water; the weight of the paper reprefcating the fea was 349 grains, that of the land 124 grains, which feems to be near enough the truth.

In fo great a proportion of the earth's furface, covered by water, we may well fuppofe, are contained an infinite variety of particularities, of which we are totally ignorant, `and to which our acquaintance never will extend. Obliged, therefore, to form a judgment of what is beyond us, by what has undergone examination, we with you not to conceive of the bottom of the fea as one uninterrupted waste; but, though great part, like African deferts, may deferve that defcription, yet elsewhere it has its verdant plains, its forests, its trees, its plants, and thefe have their inhabitants of various forms, properties, and degrees of life. Thus in much of the fea around the Weft-India iflands, it is not uncommon, in clear weather, to fee the bottom, its herbage, and the turtle feeding upon it. And in our own northern feas, many branches (apparently broken off from large trees) of as real wood as grows upon land, have occafionally been gathered from the deep. The fequel of thefe remarks will appear hereafter.

The deeper we dive (or examine, by any method) into the fea, the colier we find its temperature: this is verified by obfervation; for when a very great length of line is let down, the weight at the bottom of it, and the line itself, near its

bottom,

bottom, come up as cold as ice; and this, whether the line has really reached the submarine earth or not: indeed, in this particular, we are liable to deception from various caufes; and in founding very great depths, are feldom certain in pronouncing them unfathomable. For, (1) The denfity of the water naturally increases as it advances to the center; so that a weight, however fkilfully conftructed or directed, muft of neceffity advance perpetually into a medium more fimilar to itfelf. (2.) The line, ufed in these experiments, is of a buoyant nature; in confequence, the greater length of line is used, the greater power is exerted counter-active of the weight; so that, after all poffible efforts, the weight may reach within a little space of the bottom, yet no fuch effect appear when examined. (3.) It is impoffible to determine what cur rents are at the bottom of the fea; but it is evident their velocity must have its effect upon any body immerged in them; and fhould they bear that body confiderably out of the perpendicu lar, it may have no perceivable effect on the upper part of so great length of line as is fometimes employed; efpecially, if that part be in still water. Circumfcribed, therefore, by these impediments, in our fubmarine refearches, we admit, that many parts of the fea are juftly deemed unfathomable, but are not, therefore, bottomlefs.

We have alfo on land many holes and caverns, which have the reputation of being unfathomable: Kam not, indeed, certain that experiments have been fo often applied to thefe, as to many parts of the fea; becaufe no benefit, equal to what navigation expects from accurate knowledge of marine

depths,