' Mm
F O RM A T
ION OF
SOIL.
whole generation o f young trees, which mull in their turn decay,
to make room for others.; A ll this feeming fcene o f deftrudtion and
confufion is one of the oeeonomical adtions o f nature,, thus hoarding
up a precious quantity o f the richeft mould, for a future generation
of men, who, one day or other, will live upon, the rich products o f
this treafured foil.
Terra nos.nafcentes .exctpit, natos alit, Jemelque editor fujlinet Jenifer
: novijfime cotnplexa gremio, jam areliqua natura abdicates, turn
maxime ut mater operiens— Benigna, mitis,- itidulgens ufufque morta-
hum femper ancilla, quee con cl a generat, qua jponte j'undit | quos odo.-
res, faporefque t quos J ’uccos ! quos taclus ! quos colores ! quam bona
fide creditum fqnus. reddit! ’qua nofiri caujji alit!. f P l i n . Hill.
Nat. lib. 2, c. lxiii.
C H A P .
C H A P . II.
Remarks on Water and the Ocean.
[AQUA.] HOC ELEMENTUM CfETERIS OMNIBUS IMPERAT.
Plin, Hiß, Nat, lib. 31. c. 3.
s E C T.
p R I N
J N the So c ie t y I s l e s ' we found very copious fprings, o f the
moll limpid, cool, and fine water ; one of them efpecially, in
O -R a y e t e a , might vie with Horace’s Fans Blandufia. Th e natives
had enlarged it to a fine refervoir, furrounded by large Hones,
in a ruftic manner, blended with i pleafing fimplicity. Some
groups o f the finell trees and flowering Ihriibs, together with the
impending venerable rocks from whence the water iflued, involved
i t in a conllant lliade, and preferved a delicious coolnefs. Th e chry-
Italline llream, conftantly running from the refervoir, the verdure
o f the trees and environs, invited the traveller, in thefe hot regions,
to a refrelhing ablution o f his wearied limbs, from which he role
with new vigour to fupport the fultrinefs of the climate, and to go
chearfully through the duties of life.
G 2 In
S PR INGS ,