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*cies of cornua ammonis, with which we are acquainted, "there is but one species, called the nautilus papyraceus, "found in our seas, and five or six others, found in foreign "seas."

From this statement it appears, that the proper shells are not found at more, than four hundred feet above the present level of the sea. With respect to those shells, found at greater elevations, and having no living specimens in the sea, nor indeed any dead ones, some proof seems to be wanting, that they ever did inhabit that element.

Two more quotations will close this kind of evidence. Ulloa says, that in Chili the quantity of shells is so great, as to be used by the inhabitants to supply all the lime, that is used there; that he saw them as much, as twenty fathoms above the sea, and four or five leagues from the shore, and that he was informed by the owners of lime kilns on the hills, that they were found at the height of fifty fathoms above the shore. There is no doubt of Ulloa's accuracy, yet we may question that of his informants; for the Chilese Spaniards have never been remarkable for skill in philosophy. We may then state the height of this bed at twenty or thirty fathoms higher, than the shore, or somewhere between one hundred and twenty and two hundred feet.

The same writer also informs us, that five leagues north from Callao, the port of Lima, is the bay of Marques, "where "in all appearance not many years since the sea covered "above half a league, of what is now Terra Firma, and the "extent of a league and a half along the coast.' From the resemblance of the rocks and stones near Lima to those in

that part of the sea he concludes, that the ocean formerly extended three or four leagues, and in some places more, beyond its present limits. The arable lands have a stratum of a foot or two of earth, but below that the whole consists entirely of stones.

Vaillant, in his second travels to the Cape of Good Hope, says, "the excursion convinced me, that not only the south

Ulloa ii, 97.

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ern point of Africa, but also its interior mountains at a great distance within land, have in part been covered by the

sea. The cape was formerly an island, separated from the ❝continent by an arm of the sea, which extended from Ta"ble to False bay, and formed a junction between them. "The land is now a low plain, that consists of sand and "shells, half decomposed."* He also describes Robbin Island off the cape harbor, as having been at some former time deeper in the water, than it is at present.

This is the general state of this kind of proof. Before reasoning from it, we must state briefly the historic evidence, that there was at some period, subsequent to the cre ation of man, a flood, which nearly destroyed every species of land animals, and either at the same time, or in such quick succession, as to constitute one disaster, overflowed the whole surface of the earth. We shall then have all our evidence in that concise form, which will enable us to rea son without confusion.

In the book of Genesis + Moses has given us the history of this catastrophe, with the principal circumstances of its beginning, augmentation, decrease, and the means, used for preserving mankind and other land animals. This account is to be received, as verity itself, unmixed with any effusions of imagination, or any reasonings of the narrator. It would be difficult in any other volume to find an event of magnitude described in such concise and perspicuous language, and without any foreign ornament. According to this account : in the year of the world 1656 on the seventeenth day of the second month, or, as it would now be more intelligibly described, on the forty seventh day after the autumnal equinox, Noah and his family entered into the ark. "The same day "were the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the "windows of heaven were opened, and the rain was upon the "earth forty days and forty nights." After forty days the ark floated. The waters continued to rise for one hundred and fifty days," and the waters prevailed exceedingly upon † Gen. vi, vii, viii.

Vol. i, 134.

the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did "the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered." "And the waters returned from off the earth continually; "and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters "were abated; and the ark rested in the seventh month, on "the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of

Ararat. And the waters decreased continually until the "tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the " month, were the tops of the mountains seen." On the first day of the new year the water was so dried, as to show the earth generally, and on the twenty seventh day of the second month the earth became dry enough, and vegetation in sufficient forwardness to allow Noah and his family to quit the ark, and to liberate from their confinement all the land animals, which had taken with them a voyage of a year and seventeen days from the first bestowal of his live stock in their proper stalls.

(To be continued.)

LITERARY DISSERTATIONS.

No. V.

ON SCRIPTURE GEOGRAPHY.

THE writer of these dissertations, not having completed what he intended for the fifth number, when called upon by the publishers, begs leave to substitute for it the following letter to a learned friend; which his zeal dictated, but a fear of being thought presumptuous in intruding an opinion prevented him from sending. As the gentleman has desisted from his undertaking, the hints may prove useful to others.

REVEREND AND DEAR SIR,

I AM very glad to learn, that you intend compiling a

SCRIPTURE GEOGRAPHY; though, instead of the dictionary form, which you propose giving it, I should prefer the more Vol. II. No. I.

B

connected and satisfactory one of a topographical account of cities, &c. as they lie; with correct maps and an index to point out particular places. Such a work is certainly much wanted, and would be extremely useful. We have nothing, that I know of, which answers the purpose.

Mc. BEAN is defective and incorrect; CALMET not to be trusted at all; and the great dictionary of MARTINIERE is within the reach only of the learned and the rich; it wants too some important information of a more recent date.

As the field, you are entering, is one, which I have minutely explored, with an intention of executing what I am glad now to find in better hands, you will not be offended, if I take the liberty of recommending to you those only faithful guides into these obscure and remote regions, on whose information you may depend; and whose authority will give validity to your own.

Great difficulty attends our researches into the geography of ancient times. Places are so entirely changed, that those, who once knew them, would know them no more. Not only is their glory departed, but their very names are lost.

You mentioned JOSEPHUS, as engaging your first attention. His writings are certainly of much importance in establishing the topography of the Holy Land. Next to him is Eusebius, in a tract "De locis Hebraicis." The work is extremely valuable, because written by a native of Palestine, long time bishop of Cæsaria in that country, and a man of distinguished learning and talents. It has been translated and augmented by St. JEROM, whose active mind and uncommon erudition are sufficiently known. This father retired for the last twenty or thirty years of his life to a monastery at Bethlehem, near Jerusalem. No authority therefore seems likely to be so satisfactory, as that of an account, furnished by these writers. The humble obfcurity however of many of the places in question, and the distance of several hundred years from the events have rendered some of their descriptions uncertain and inaccurate.

To ascertain the boundaries of the adjoining countries the ancient classical geographers, STRABO, MELA, and SOLI

NUS, and PLINY in his natural history, are consulted with advantage. I would also particularly recommend STRABO, as a standard work on ancient geography; rendered still more valuable by the judicious notes of Casaubon.

I need not tell you, that BOCHART and RELAND have learnedly discussed the subject of sacred geography, and may be considered, as copious sources of information; but the ingenious remarks and additions of MICHAELIS are necessary in consulting the former; and LIGHTFOOT, who differs in opinion from the latter, has bestowed great pains in ascertaining the geography of the Holy Land.

The memoirs of M. D' ANVILLE, presented to the academy of inscriptions and belleslettres, are inestimable; and it is to be regretted, that we have in english only an abridgement of them in two volumes 8vo. But that has its use. His maps are deemed accurate. His memoir on the ancient Jerusalem and places adjacent is undoubtedly one of the most correct and learned investigations of any modern on the subject. It unites the minuteness of Pineda with the perspicuity of Villalpandus; free from the tedious prolixity of the former, and the disappointing conciseness of the latter.

The descriptions of modern travellers are a very amusing and instructive source of information on these subjects. SHAW and RUSSELL are in highest estimation, and are read with most advantage by those, who would know the present state of places, once famous, as the theatre of the most interesting scenes and events. Next them are to be ranked SANDYS, NIEBUHR, BRUCE, SAVARY, VOLNEY, MARITI, and DALLAWAY. MAUNDREL's tour from Aleppo to Jerusalem is precious for the plain and clear descriptions, it gives. D' Anville thus characterizes it (6 ; un des meilleurs morceaux,

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sans contredit, qu'on ait dans ce genre." Pocock's description of the East contains much learning and much valvable information. HUET on the navigation of the ancients: clears up some points of great impartance, but leaves others very dubious; particularly Ophir and Tarshish. But some learned dissertations respecting the countries, visited by the.

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