fummer in Tierra del Fuego and South Georgia, could not But"
think ourfèlves completely unhappy; arid a Angle momentary,
recollection o f the winters of thole wretched-climates,, is even now?
fufficient to make us Ihudder at the very thought o f i t . .
However, we find that thefe changes o f the feafon in the tropical
and temperate zones, eaufe confiderable alterations;, which produce
likewife, a very eonfiderable effedt upon our globe,. and i s ;
infinitely more confpicuous there, than in the more 'rigid climates.
T h e eonftant fucce-ffion o f vegetation within the tropics,: infufes .
every where life, and affords food to millions o f animated beings, o f
the human and animal kind; the temperate zones have Hill vegetation,
enough to enliven the fcene, and to feed many thoufands; butthewhole
creation feems Iifelefs and'torpid,, in the-frozen climates-of Tierra-
del Fuego, and Staten Land ; and the .little life which is left to nature,
is confined to a very Ihort fpace o f time ;.and even its- greateft:
adtivity, in the .motion o f whales, feals and pinguins,,, the only numerous
inhabitants o f thefe regions, is abfolute torpor, when?,
compared with the agility o f the animated .beings o f warmer and
more happy regions. In proportion as places lie nearer to the c'ourfe.
o f the fun ; foil and mould, the great promoters o f vegetation:are
increafed • and in the fame proportion all organic bodies animate,
the Iifelefs, chaotic part o f the ftrata o f our globe. But as-1 have
already fpoken o f thefe changes, it may be fufficient here to hint at:
them only. S E C T -
S E C T I O N II,
A C C I D E N T A L C H A N G E S .
IF we confider the changes our globe has undergone from acci- changes
o f T H E
dental caufes., we find the A r t i f i c i a l C h ang e s made on g lo b e .
the furface o f our globe by mankind, not to be the lead: con-
fiderable.
Where man the lord o f the creation on this globe, has never
attempted any change on it, there nature feems only to thrive; for
in reality it langaifhes, and is deformed by being left to itfelf
Impenetrable woods coverthe furface of thefe regions ; its trees are
no doubt here and -there large and fine, but many are decayed, and
ftill more lying on the ground rotting; here is a tree without its
rind, another without a to p ; all the ground below is over-run with
briars, and weeds, and climbers, which hinder you from fetting a
foot .forward; all that feems to vegetate and thrive is fuffocated, and
buried under modes, lichens and mufhrooms. Th e water ftagnates
every where, and caufes immenfe fwamps, which are unfit to ferve
either the inhabitants of the land, or thole o f the water; being
•over-run with gigantic but coarfe plants., affording very little food
to the more ufeful parts of the animated creation.
As
* Mivde Buffon, premiere Vue de la Nature, vol, xxiv. dc l’ Edit, cn i imo.