r ivu - genius o f a Sa l v a t o r R osa to do them juftice: however the in~
LE S’ genious artift, who went with us on this expedition has- great merit,,
in having executed fome o f thefe romantic landfcapes in a mafterly
manner.
T h e upper parts o f all the rivulets in the Society Iiles, are not:
fo ufelefs or negl'efted, as might be imagined; Wherever the natives
obferve that the valley between the ileep fides enlarges, there
they form a wear, by piling large ftones fo high, that the water is
raifed on a level with or even higher than the plain; which they
furround with a fmcll bank, make it level and plant it with eddoes
or arum efiulentum, a plant which likes to be under water and thus
grows into large tuberous roots; they then admit the water into
thefe plantations from above the wear and difcharge it at the oppo-
fite end. T h e wears ferve the natives- at the fame time for- a bridge,
they being extremely lkilful in jumping from one large ftone to
another, and fometimes carrying at the fame time a burthen cn
their backs-
Se c t . III. O C E A 1ST.
o c e a n . r a 'H E laft andmoft confiderable body o f water is the ocean, i t
"*■ highly deferves to be examined on,-- many, accounts, and though
the remarks we have to make on it are but few and perhaps trivial,
we
W A T E R a n d t h e O C E A N ,
we will venture to communicate them, as they may ferve to confirm
feme known pofitions.
The. D epth of the Oc e an .
T he D epth of the ocean is certainly one o f the moft remarkable;
circumftances. W e now and then even out o f fight, o f any land,
tried to meafiire this depth; for inlfance in the year 1772 Sept.
5th. being, near the line in 09° 52 North latitude,, we could find no
ground with 250 fathom. On February 8th. 1773, when we
were in femething. more than 4 ^° South latitude, a little to the Eail
of the meridian of the ifle of Mauritius, we had 210. fathom line
out, but found no ground. On November the 22d. 1774 being
in the middle of the pacific ocean, we founded with 150 fathom and
found no ground.
It has been laid down as* a maxim by the learned and ingenious
Count de B u f fo.n * “ that the depth o f the fea along
“ the coafts is commonly fo much greater as thefe coalls are more
“ elevated, and. again, fo much.lefs.as they are lower,, and that the
“ inequality of the bottom ( of the fea generally correiponds with
“ the inequality o f the furface o f the foil of the coaft ; and Dam.-
pier is quoted in confirmation o f this aflertion. Though the learned;
author.
OCEAN,
Hiftorie natnrelle tom 2d p. 299 & 200. Edit, in 12mo*