completed by the flood of Deucalion *; and that not long after the latter, the straits of Gibraltar were burst open, to give an outlet to the surcharged waters of the Mediterranean: and to the gradual deepening of the Straits, we may attribute the recess of the waters from the Eastern shores of the Mediterranean ; which were formerly covered to a greater extent.

It has been supposed by Buffon and others, that the disruptions of the barriers of the Mediterranean and Baltic, proceeded from without, from the fury of the ocean bursting in. This certainly might have contributed to weaken them on the outside; but the effect seems most naturally to have been produced from the inside. To invalidate the argument, in the case of the Mediterranean, and to set aside the accumulation of its waters from the interior seas and rivers, it has been contended, 1. That evaporation on the surface of the Mediterranean Sea, by the heat of the sun, draws off the surplus waters; and that this is proved, 2. By the constant in-draught of the waters of the ocean setting into the mouth of the Streights.

But to this it is answered by Howard, 1. That the rains which fall in great torrents, restore much of the waters evaporated by heat; and that no evaporation takes place in the Baltic, on account of the coldness of the climate: and 2. That there is an under current, in the gut of Gibraltar, constantly setting outwards from the Mediterranean, which may discharge a greater body of water than is admitted by the upper: and 3. That from a Chart published in Germany during the last siege of Gibraltar, of the tides and currents in the Streights, it appears, that whilst a strong upper current drives from the ocean into the Mediterranean, along the coasts of Africa; a contrary upper current sets into the ocean from that sea, turning round Europa point

The flood of Deucalion may rather perhaps have originated from a disruption and discharge of waters in Thessaly itself, described by Herodotus, B. 7, 129.

"Thessa'y is said to have been anciently a lake, surrounded on all sides by lofty mountains; to the East, by Pelion and Ossa, whose bases meet each other; to the North, by Olympus; to the West, by Pindus; and to the South, by Othrys. The intermediate space is Thessaly, a hollow country, watered by a great many rivers, the principal of which are Peneus, Apidanus, Orochonus, Enipeus, and Pamisus. These rivers, collected in the plain, cross a very narrow valley [Tempe] at the outlets of the mountains, and discharge themselves into the sea by one common channel, which assumes the name of Peneus, absorbing the rest. It is said that formerly, before this aperture to the sea existed, these five rivers, and the lake Babeis also, had not distinct names as at present; but that their body of water being as great, and flowing incessantly, made the whole of Thessaly a sea.”

into the bay of Gibraltar, and sweeping round that bay, takes its course along the coasts of Andalusia*. According to that Chart, the whole Streights may be divided into five bands, in all which the tides are different: in the mid-channel, the tide coincides with the ocean; in the two bands on each side, the hours of flow and ebb are different from that of the ocean, and different from each other; in the two bands following the two coasts, the hours of tide are the same, though different from all the others. 4. The same counter-currents prevail also in the Streights of Constantinople: over against that city, the most rapid of its superior currents drives into the Black Sea along the Asiatic Coast, yet no one doubts that the Black Sea pours a considerable surplus of water into the Mediterranean; and that the general current of the latter sets from East to West, is ascertained beyond a doubt, by the usually longer navigation up than down the Mediterranean, according to the nautical phrase, founded on experience. See Howard's fourth letter, with its notes and illustrations; from which this article is principally extracted.

THE TERRAQUEOUS GLOBE.

The last century has been more productive of Geographical discoveries than any, or almost all that preceded it. The fictions of speculative Geographers for ages past, have been imaginary Continents in the Southern hemisphere, and imaginary seas in the Northern. The true proportion of land to water on the earth's surface, was never ascertained till the voyages of discovery made by that celebrated British Navigator, Captain Cook, under the auspices of his present Majesty, George III. in three successive voyages round the world. The result of which, as being of considerable importance in itself, and throwing great light on the process of the original colonization of the earth by the families of Noah's sons, is thus expressed by himself:

"I have now made the circuit of the Southern Ocean in a high latitude; and traversed it in such a manner, as to leave not the least room for there being a Continent, unless near the South Pole, and out of the reach of navigation. By twice visiting the Tropical Sea, I had not only settled the situation of some old

This outer current flows with such impetuosity, that ships to enter the Streights are forced first to gain Cape Spartel on the African side, to effect their purpose; especially if they aim to enter the bay of Gibraltar.

discoveries, but made there many new ones, and left, I conceive, very little to be done, even in that part. Thus I flatter myself, that the intention of the voyage has in every respect been fully answered. The Southern Hemisphere has been fully explored, and a final end put to the searching after a Southern Continent, which has at times engrossed the attention of the maritime powers for near two centuries past, and been a favourite theory amongst the Geographers of all ages." Cook's Second Voyage, Vol. II. p. 239.

If in his two first Voyages Captain Cook annihilated imaginary southern lands, he has made amends for the havoc in his third and last voyage, by annihilating imaginary northern seas, and filling up the vast space which had been allotted to them, with the solid contents of his new discoveries of American land, farther West and North than had been hitherto traced.

The two continents of Asia and America, so widely separated from each other by the vast Pacific or Eastern ocean, at their Southern extremities, are now found to approach each other towards the Northern, within thirteen leagues, instead of eight hundred, as supposed by the author of Recherches Philosophiques sur les Americains. And in this narrow streight there are several intervening islands, as Behring's, &c.

Among other good purposes, therefore, these voyages have rendered essential services to Religion, by robbing Infidelity of a favourite objection to the Mosaical account of the peopling of the earth. North America might have been easily furnished with inhabitants from the opposite coasts of Asia; and South America, by means of the great chain of newly discovered tropical isles, scattered between the two great Continents, and successively colonized from Asia; and also, on its Eastern side, by vessels driven by storms, or trade winds and currents, from the shores of Europe and Africa; and indeed the similarity of languages, religion, manners, and customs, in several leading points, furnishes decisive evidence of the descent of all mankind from the same parent stock.

The seas, both of the North and South, grow shallower, the nearer they approach to the Pole. Captain Cook, in his repeated voyages round the Antarctic circle, constantly found innumerable isles and fields of ice obstructing his course in lat. 61 and 62, South. Having, however, penetrated as far, in some parts, as lat. 72, he there found a firm and fixed continent of ice, on

which he descried vast accumulated mountains. From repeated and judicious observations, he pronounces this to be owing, not to the proximity of lands; the islands which he called Sandwich, in lat. 59, being the last which he descried towards that Pole; but to the shallowness of that sea: the accumulating snows and ice sinking there to the very bottom, become immoveably fixed thereto. In the Northern hemisphere, it was not the proximity of land which stopped his progress, for he passed Behring's Straits: but though the lands diverging from thence open a more extensive widening sea, he was again stopped by an icy continent, in lat. 70, North, because he perceived the sea was there so shallow, as to suffer the ice to be rooted to its bottom. On the opposite western side of the hemisphere, it is well known, that the sea, though sometimes covered with floating ice, is passable, in the proper season, and even becomes less obstructed, as far as lat. 88, to which, by various accounts, it appears that some ships have penetrated. This probably is owing to the greater depth of the ocean about Spitzbergen, and northwards, for a considerable extent.

This curious discovery puts an end likewise to the doubts that have been raised about the difficulty of maintaining the equilibrium of the earth, from the greater redundance of land in the Northern, than in the Southern hemisphere. We know the fact, that the equilibrium is maintained; whence we may safely conclude, either that the shallowness of the Polar seas leaves the earth of the same density at each pole, or rather, perhaps, that all these inequalities on the surface of the land and water, are light and insignificant, compared with the great solid mass of the earth itself, nearly 8000 miles in diameter.

Opinionum commenta delet dies,

Nature judicia confirmat.

"The fictions of hypothesis, lapse of time effaces,

But confirms the decisions of Nature !"

-And the dictates of Revelation.

NOAH AND HIS SONS.

Noah survived the deluge 350 years, and Shem 500 years. This is decisive evidence against the hypothesis, that the diminution in the standard of human life after the deluge, was owing to the unwholesomeness of the atmosphere, occasioned by the

stagnant waters after the deluge; for the longevity of Noah exceeded that of any of his ancestors, except Methuselah; of whose age of 965 years, Noah's wanted only 15 years; and Shem survived his father 150 years, and probably his brothers lived as long. The regular reduction of nearly 200 years each, for three sets of generations, from Shem, 600 years, to Terah, 205, marks design; and the successive reductions, down to David, when the standard was lowered to 70 years, at a time when, according to the hypothesis, the stagnant waters of the deluge must have long since been dried up every where, and, of course, the earth rendered more wholesome, shows, that the diminution must be resolved into the sole will and pleasure of our Creator.

During the lives of Noah and his sons, their families occupied Armenia, and probably extended themselves into the adjacent pleasant and fertile regions of Georgia, Assyria, and Media.

It was probably near the close of his life, that Noah delivered that famous prophecy respecting the fortunes of the three great families that peopled the whole earth, so wonderfully descriptive of their distinctive characters at the present day, and so minutely fulfilled in their respective settlements. As a Geographical prophecy, therefore, it requires to be noticed in this place.

NOAH'S PROPHECY.

The immediate occasion of this prophecy is stated to be the intoxication of Noah; in consequence of which he lay exposed in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth dutifully covered him with a garment, going backwards that they might not see his nakedness. And when Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his youngest son had done unto him, he said,

I. "Cursed be Canaan:

A servant of servants shall he be to his brethren.

II. Blessed be THE LORD, THE GOD of Shem,

And Canaan shall be his servant.

III. GOD shall enlarge Japheth,

He shall even dwell in the tents of Shem;

And Canaan shall be his servant."-Gen. ix. 20-27.

It has been generally supposed that the youngest son, here meant, is Ham; the same who saw and told his father's un