CHAPTER XI
Concerning the Mountains of the
Earth, their greatness and irregular Form, their Situation, Causes, and Origin.
The greatest objects of Nature are, methinks, the most pleasing to
behold; and next to the great Concave of the Heavens, and those boundless
Regions where the Stars inhabit, there is nothing that I look upon with more
pleasure than the wide Sea and the Mountains of the Earth. There is something
august and stately in the Air of these things, that inspires the mind with great
thoughts and passions ; We do naturally, upon such occasions, think of God and
his greatness: and whatsoever hath but the shadow and appearance of INFINITE, as
all things have
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that are too big for our comprehension, they fill and
over-bear the mind with their Excess, and cast it into a pleasing kind of stupor
and admiration.
And yet these Mountains we are speaking of, to confess the truth,
are nothing but great ruines; but such as show a certain magnificence in Nature;
as from old Temples and broken Amphitheaters of the Romans we collect the
greatness of that people. But the grandeur of a Nation is less sensible to those
that never see the remains and monuments they have left, and those who never see
the mountainous parts of the Earth, scarce ever reflect upon the causes of them,
or what power in Nature could be sufficient to produce them. The truth is, the
generality of people have not sence and curiosity enough to raise a question
concerning these things, or concerning the Original of them. You may tell them
that Mountains grow out of the Earth like Fuzz-balls, or that there are Monsters
under ground that throw up Mountains as Moles do Mole-hills; they will scarce
raise one objection against your doctrine; or if you would appear more Learned,
tell them that the Earth is a great Animal, and these are Wens that grow upon
its body. This would pass current for Philosophy; so much is the World drown'd
in stupidity and sensual pleasures, and so little inquisitive into the works of
God and Nature.
There is nothing doth more awaken our thoughts or excite our
minds to enquire into the causes of such things, than the actual view of them;
as I have had experience my self when it was my fortune to cross the Alps and
Appennine Mountains; for the sight of those wild, vast and indigested
heaps of Stones and Earth, did so deeply strike my fancy, that I was not easie
till I could give my self some tolerable account how that confusion came in
Nature. 'Tis true, the height of Mountains compar'd with the Diameter of the
Earth is not considerable, but the extent of them and the ground they stand
upon, bears a considerable proportion to the surface of the Earth; and if from Europe
we may take our measures for the rest, I easily believe, that the Mountains
do at least take up the tenth part of the dry land. The Geographers are not very
careful to describe or note in their Charts, the multitude or situation of
Mountains; They mark the bounds of Countries, the site of Cities and Towns, and
the course of Rivers, because these are things of chief use to civil affairs and
commerce, and that they design to serve, and not Philosophy or Natural History.
But Cluverius in his description of Ancient Germany, Switzerland and
Italy, hath given Maps of those Countries more approaching to the natural
face of them, and we have drawn (at the end of this Chapter) such a Map of
either Hemisphere, without marking Countries or Towns, or any such artificial
things; distinguishing only Land and Sea, Islands and Continents, Mountains and
not Mountains; and 'tis very useful to imagine the Earth in this manner, and to
look often upon such bare draughts as shew us Nature undrest; for then we are
best able to judge what her true shapes and proportions are.
'Tis certain that we naturally imagine the surface of the
Earth much more regular than it is; for unless we be in some Mountainous parts,
there seldom occur any great inequalities within so much compass of ground as we
can, at once, reach with our Eye; and to conceive the rest, we multiply the same
Idea,
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and extend it to those parts of the Earth that we do not see;
and so fancy the whole Globe much more smooth and uniform than it is. But
suppose a man was carri'd asleep out of a Plain Country, amongst the Alps, and
left there upon the top of one of the highest Mountains, when he wak'd and
look'd about him, he would think himself in an inchanted Country, or carri'd
into another World; Every thing would appear to him so different to what he had
ever seen or imagin'd before. To see on every hand of him a multitude of vast
bodies thrown together in confusion, as those Mountains are; Rocks standing
naked round about him; and the hollow Valleys gaping under him; and at his feet
it may be, an heap of frozen Snow in the midst of Summer. He would hear the
thunder come from below, and see the black Clouds hanging beneath him; Upon such
a prospect, it would not be easie to him to perswade himself that he was still
upon the same Earth; but if he did, he would be convinc'd, at least, that there
are some Regions of it strangely rude, and ruine-like, and very different from
what he had ever thought of before. But the inhabitants of these wild places are
even with us ; for those that live amongst the Alps and the great
Mountains, think that all the rest of the Earth is like their Country, all
broken into Mountains, and Valleys, and Precipices; They never see other, and
most people think of nothing but what they have seen at one time or another.
These Alps we are speaking of are the greatest range of
Mountains in Europe ; and 'tis prodigious to see and to consider of what
extent these heaps of Stones and Rubbish are; one way they overspread Savoy and
Dauphine, and reach through France to the Pyrenean Mountains,
and so to the Ocean. The other way they run along the skirts of Germany, through
Stiria, Pannonia, and Dalmatia, as far as Thrace and the
Black Sea. Then backwards they cover Switzerland and the parts adjacent;
and that branch of them which we call the Appennines, strikes through Italy,
and is, as it were, the back-bone of that Country. This must needs be a
large space of ground which they stand upon; Yet 'tis not this part of Europe
only that is laden with Mountains, the Northern part is as rough and rude in
the face of the Country, as in the manners of the people; Bohemia, Silesia,
Denmark, Norway, Sweedland, Lapland, and Iseland, and all the coasts
of the Baltick Sea, are full of Clifts, and Rocks, and Crags of
Mountains: Besides the Riphean Mountains in Muscovy, which the
Inhabitants there use to call the Stone-girdle, and believe that it girds
the Earth round about.
Nor are the other parts of our Continent more free from
Mountains than Europe, nor other parts of the Earth than our Continent:
They are in the New World as well as the Old; and if they could discover two or
three New Worlds or Continents more, they would still find them there. Neither
is there any Original Island upon the Earth, but is either all a Rock, or hath
Rocks and Mountains in it. And all the dry Land, and every Continent, is but a
kind of Mountain : though that Mountain hath a multitude of lesser ones, and
Valleys, and Plains, and Lakes, and Marshes, and all variety of grounds.
In America, the Andes, or a ridge of Mountains
so call'd, are reported to be higher than any we have, reaching above a thousand
Leagues in length, and twenty in breadth, where they are the narrowest. In Africk
the Mountain Atlas,
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that for its height was said to bear the Heavens on its back,
runs all along from the Western Sea to the borders of Ægypt, parallel
with the Mediterranean. There also are the Mountains of the Moon, and
many more whereof we have but an imperfect account, as neither indeed of that
Country in the remote and inner parts of it. Asia is better known, and
the Mountains thereof better describ'd: Taurus, which is the principal,
was adjudg'd by the ancient Geographers the greatest in the World. It divides ASl"a
into two parts, which have their denomination from it: And there is an Anti-Taurus
the greater and the less, which accordingly divide Armenia into
greater and less. Then the Cruciform Mountains of lmaus, the
famous Caucasus, the long Chains of Tartary and China, and
the Rocky and Mountainous Arabia. If one could at once have a prospect of
all these together, one would be easily satisfied, that the Globe of the Earth
is a more rude and indigested Body than 'tis commonly imagin'd; If one could
see, I say, all the Kingdoms and Regions of the Earth at one view, how they lie
in broken heaps; The Sea hath overwhelm'd one half of them, and what remains are
but the taller parts of a ruine. Look upon those great ranges of Mountains in Europe
or in Asia, whereof we have given a short survey, in what confusion
do they lie ? They have neither form nor beauty, nor shape, nor order, no more
than the Clouds in the Air. Then how barren, how desolate, how naked are they ?
how they stand neglected by Nature ? neither the Rains can soften them, nor the
Dews from Heaven make them fruitful.
I have given this short account of the Mountains of the Earth,
to help to remove that prejudice we are apt to have, or that conceit, That the
present Earth is regularly form'd. And to this purpose I do not doubt but
that it would be of very good use to have natural Maps of the Earth, as
we noted before, as well as civil; and done with the same care and
judgment. Our common Maps I call Civil, which note the distinction of
Countries and of Cities, and represent the Artificial Earth as inhabited and
cultivated: But natural Maps leave out all that, and represent the Earth as it
would be if there was not an Inhabitant upon it, nor ever had been; the Skeleton
of the Earth, as I may so say, with the site of all its parts. Methinks also
every Prince should have such a Draught of his own Country and Dominions, to see
how the ground lies in the several parts of them, which highest, which lowest;
what respect they have to one another, and to the Sea; how the Rivers flow, and
why; how the Mountains stand, how the Heaths, and how the Marches are plac'd.
Such a Map or Survey would be useful both in time of War and Peace, and many
good observations might be made by it, not only as to Natural History and
Philosophy, but also in order to the perfect improvement of a Countrey. But to
return to our Mountains.
As this Survey of the multitude and greatness of them may help
to rectifie our mistakes about the form of the Earth, so before we proceed to
examine their causes, it will be good to observe farther, that these Mountains
are plac'd in no order one with another, that can either respect use or beauty;
And if you consider them singly, they do not consist of any proportion of parts
that is referrable to any design, or that hath the least footsteps of Art or
Counsel. There is nothing in Nature more shapeless and ill-figur'd than an old
Rock or a Mountain, and all
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that variety that is among them, is but the various modes of
irregularity ; so as you cannot make a better character of them, in short, than
to say they are of all forms and figures, except regular. Then if you could go
within these Mountains, (for they are generally hollow,) you would find all
things there more rude, if possible, than without: And lastly, if you look upon
an heap of them together, or a Mountainous Country, they are the greatest
examples of confusion that we know in Nature; no Tempest or Earthquake puts
things into more disorder. 'Tis true, they cannot look so ill now as they did at
first; a ruine that is fresh looks much worse than afterwards, when the Earth
grows discolour'd and skin'd over. But I fancy if we had seen the Mountains when
they were new-born and raw, when the Earth was fresh broken, and the waters of
the Deluge newly retir'd, the fractions and confusions of them would have
appear'd very gastly and frightful.
After this general Survey of the Mountains of the Earth and their
properties, let us now reflect upon the causes of them. There is a double
pleasure in Philsophy, first that of Admiration, whilst we contemplate things
that are great and wonderful, and do not yet understand their Causes; for though
admiration proceed from ignorance, yet there is a certain charm and sweetness in
that passion. Then the second pleasure is greater and more intellectual, which
is that of distinct knowledge and comprehension, when we come to have the Key
that unlocks those secrets, and see the methods wherein those things come to
pass that we admir'd before; The reasons why the World is so or so, and from
what causes Nature, or any part of Nature, came into such a state; and this we
are now to enquire after as to the Mountains of the Earth, what their original
was, how and when the Earth came into this strange frame and structure ? In the
beginning of our World, when the Earth rise from a Chaos, 'twas impossible it
should come immediately into this Mountainous form ; because a mass that is
fluid, as a Chaos is, cannot lie in any other figure than what is regular; for
the constant laws of Nature do certainly bring all Liquors into that form: And a
Chaos is not call'd so from any confusion or brokenness in the form of it, but
from a confusion and mixture of all sorts of ingredients in the composition of
it. So we have already produc'd, in the precedent Chapters, a double argument
that the Earth was not originally in this form, both because it rise from a
Chaos, which could not of it self, or by any immediate concretion, settle into a
form of this nature, as hath been shown in the Fourth and Fifth Chapters; as
also because if it had been originally made thus, it could never have undergone
a Deluge, as hath been prov'd in the Second and Third Chapters. If this be then
a secondary and succedaneous form, the great question is from what causes it
arises.
Some have thought that Mountains, and all other irregularities
in the Earth, have rise from Earthquakes, and such like causes; others have
thought that they came from the universal Deluge; yet not from any dissolution
of the Earth that was then, but only from the great agitation of the waters,
which broke the ground into this rude and unequal form. Both these causes seem
to me very incompetent and insufficient. Earthquakes seldom make Mountains, they
often take them away, and sink them down into the Caverns that lie under them;
Besides, Earthquakes are not in all Countries and Climates as Mountains are;
for, as we have
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observ'd more than once, there is neither Island that is original, nor Continent any where in the Earth, in what latitude soever, but hath Mountains and Rocks in it. And lastly, what probability is there, or how is it credible, that those vast tracts of Land which we see fill'd with Mountains both in Europe, Asia and Africa, were rais'd by Earthquakes, or any eruptions from below. In what Age of the World was this done, and why not continued ? As for the Deluge, I doubt not but Mountains were made in the time of the general Deluge, that great change and transformation of the Earth happen'd then, but not from such causes as are pretended, that is, the bare rowling and agitation of the waters; For if the Earth was smooth and plain before the Flood, as they seem to suppose as well as we do, the waters could have little or no power over a smooth surface to tear it any way in pieces, no more than they do a meadow or low ground when they lie upon it; for that which makes Torrents and Land-floods violent, is their fall from the Mountains and high Lands, which our Earth is now full of, but if the Rain fell upon even and level ground, it would only sadden and compress it; there is no possibility how it should raise Mountains in it. And if we could imagine an universal Deluge as the Earth is now constituted, it would rather throw down the Hills and Mountains than raise new ones; or by beating down their tops and loose parts, help to fill the Valleys, and bring the Earth nearer to evenness and plainness.
Seeing then there are no hopes of
explaining the Origin of Mountains, either from particular Earthquakes, or from
the general Deluge, according to the common notion and Explication of it; these
not being causes answerable to such vast effects; Let us try our Hypothesis again;
which hath made us a Chanel large enough for the Sea, and room for all
subterraneous Cavities, and I think will find us materials enough to raise all
the Mountains of the Earth. We suppose the great Arch or circumference of the
first Earth to have fallen into the Abyss at the Deluge, and seeing that was
larger than the surface it fell upon, 'tis absolutely certain, that it could not
all fall flat, or lie under the water: Now as all those parts that stood above
the water made dry Land, or the present habitable Earth, so such parts of the
dry Land as stood higher than the rest, made Hills and Mountains; And this is
the first and general account of them, and of all the inequalities of the Earth.
But to consider these things a little more particularly; There is a double cause
and necessity of Mountains, first this now mention'd, because the exteriour Orb
of the Earth was greater than the interiour which it fell upon, and therefore it
could not all fall flat; and secondly, because this exteriour Orb did not fall
so flat and large as it might, or did not cover all the bottom of the Abyss, as
it was very capable to do; but as we shewed before in explaining the Chanel of
the Ocean, it left a gaping in the middle, or an Abysschanel, as I
should call it; and the broader this Abyss-chanel was, the more Mountains there
would be upon the dry Land; for there would be more Earth, or more of the
falling Orb left, and less room to place it in, and therefore it must stand more
in heaps.
In what parts of the Earth these heaps would lie, and in
what particular manner, it cannot be expected that we should tell; but all that
we have hitherto observ'd
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concerning Mountains, how strange soever and otherwise
unaccountable, may easily be explain'd, and deduc'd from this original; we shall
not wonder at their greatness and vastness, seeing they are the ruines of a
broken World; and they would take up more or less of the dry Land, according as
the Ocean took up more or less space of our Globe: Then as to their figure and
form, whether External or Internal, 'tis just such as answers our expectation,
and no more than what the Hypothesis leads us to; For you would easily
believe that these heaps would be irregular in all manner of ways, whether
consider'd apart, or in their situation to one another. And they would lie
commonly in Clusters and in Ridges, for those are two of the most general
postures of the parts of a ruine, when they fall inwards. Lastly, we cannot
wonder that Mountains should be generally hollow; For great bodies falling
together in confusion, or bearing and leaning against one another, must needs
make a great many hollownesses in them, and by their unequal Applications empty
spaces will be intercepted. We see also from the same reason, why mountainous
Countries are subject to Earthquakes ; and why Mountains often sink and fall
down into the Caverns that lie under them; their joynts and props being decay'd
and worn, they become unable to bear their weight. And all these properties you
see hang upon one and the same string, and are just consequences from our
supposition concerning the dissolution of the first Earth. And there is no surer
mark of a good Hypothesis, than when it doth not only hit luckily in one
or two particulars, but answers all that it is to be appli'd to, and is adequate
to Nature in her whole extent.
But how fully or easily soever these things may answer Nature,
you will say, it may be, that all this is but an Hypothesis; that is, a
kind of fiction or supposition that things were so and so at first, and by the
coherence and agreement of the Effects with such a supposition, you would argue
and prove that they were really so. This I confess is true, this is the method,
and if we would know any thing in Nature further than our senses go, we can know
it no otherwise than by an Hypothesis. When things are either too little
for our senses, or too remote and inaccessible, we have no way to know the
inward Nature, and the causes of their sensible properties, but by reasoning
upon an Hypothesis. If you would know, for example, of what parts Water,
or any other Liquor consists, they are too little to be discern'd by the Eye,
you must therefore take a supposition concerning their invisible figure and
form, and if that agrees and gives the reason of all their sensible qualities,
you understand the nature of Water. In like manner, if you would know the nature
of a Comet, or of what matter the Sun consists, which are things inaccessible to
us, you can do this no otherwise than by an Hypothesis; and if that Hypothesis
be easie and intelligible, and answers all the Phæmomena of those
two bodies, you have done as much as a Philosopher or as Humane reason
can do. And this is what we have attempted concerning the Earth and
concerning the Deluge; We have laid down an Hypothesis that is easie and
perspicuous, consisting of a few things, and those very intelligible, and from
this we have given an account how the Old World was destroy'd by a Deluge of
water, and how the Earth came into this present form; so distinguish'd and
interrupted with Sea and Land, Mountains and Valleys, and so broken in the
surface and inward parts of it.
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Fig.
I
But to speak the Truth, this Theory is something
more than a bare Hypothesis; because we are assur'd that the general
ground that we go upon is true, namely, that the Earth rise at first from a
Chaos; for besides Reason and Antiquity, Scripture it self doth assure as of
that; and that one point being granted, we have deduc'd from it all the rest by
a direct chain of consequences, which I think cannot be broken easily in part
part or link of it. Besides, the great hinge of this Theory upon which all the
rest turns, is the distinction we make of the Antediluvian Earth and Heavens
from the Post-diluvian, as to their form and con
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Fig.
2
stitution. And it will never be beaten out of my head, but
that St. Peter hath made the same distinction sixteen hundred years
since, and to the very same purpose; so that we have sure footing here again,
and the Theory riseth above the character of a bare Hypothesis. And
whereas an Hypothesis that is clear and proportion'd to Nature in every
respect, is accounted morally certain, we must in equity give more than a moral
certitude to this Theory. But I mean this only as to the general parts of it;
for as to particularities, I look upon them only as problematical, and
accordingly I affirm nothing therein but with a power of revocation,
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and a liberty to change my opinion when I shall be better
inform'd. Neither do I know any Author that hath treated a matter new, remote,
and consisting of a multitude of particulars, who would not have had occasion,
if he had liv'd to have seen his Hypothesis fully examin'd, to have
chang'd his mind and manner of explaining things, in many material instances.
To conclude both this Chapter and this Section, we have here
added a Map or Draught of the Earth, according to the Natural face of it, as it
would appear from the Moon, if we were a little nearer to her; or as it was at
first after the Deluge, before Cities were built, distinctions of Countries
made, or any alterations by humane industry. 'Tis chiefly to expose more to view
the Mountains of the Earth, and the proportions of Sea and Land, to shew it as
it lies in it self, and as a Naturalist ought to conceive and consider it. 'Tis
true, there are far more Mountains upon the Earth than what are here
represented, for more could not conveniently be plac'd in this narrow Scheme;
But the best and most effectual way of representing the body of the Earth as it
is by Nature, would be, not in plain Tables, but by a rough Globe, expressing
all the considerable inequalities that are upon the Earth. The smooth Globes
that we use, do but nourish in us the conceit of the Earth's regularity, and
though they may be convenient enough for Geographical purposes, they are not so
proper for Natural Science; nothing would be more useful, in this respect, than
a rough Globe of the largest dimensions, wherein the Chanel of the Sea should be
really hollow, as it is in Nature, with all its unequal depths according to the
best soundings, and the shores exprest both according to matter and form, little
Rocks standing where there are Rocks, and Sands and Beaches in the places where
they are found; And all the Islands planted in the Sea-chanel in a due form, and
in their solid dimensions. Then upon the Land should stand all the ranges of
Mountains, in the same order or disorder that Nature hath set them there; And
the in-land Seas, and great Lakes, or rather the beds they lie in, should be
duly represented; as also the vast desarts of Sand as they lie upon the Earth.
And this being done with care and due Art, would be a true Epitome or true model
of our Earth. Where we should see, besides other instructions, what a rude Lump
our World is, which we are so apt to dote upon.
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