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Si TR A V E L S , Sic.
I HAvr- vifitcd foveral parts of the Alps and Pyrenneesi but muft ftill wait for an
opportunity of continning my obfetvations on the relative height of the primordial and
fccondary mountilinS ; their iituation and dircâion ; as alfo thofe of the different glaciers,
the upper and lower vailles, the courfe of the rivers, &c. : I lhall then probably be
tempted to oiftr to the public my opinion on the various revolutions which have affefted
that tremendous chain of mountains.
FROM what I have feen and obferved in the Alps, I am ftrongly of Mr. de la Métherie's
opinion on the formation of out continents, viz. i. That the waters have certainly
covered the highcft mountains, even thofe of Granite. 2. That they have a motion
f r om the equator to the poles, and from the poles to the equator. 3. That the interior
part of our globe contams a number of caverns, into which part of the waters precipitate
thcmfelves. This latter obfervation is generally underftood by moft of our modern
g c o l o g i f t s ; in fhort, that the poles of the equator and the ecliptic approaching and retreating
alternately from eaft to wel l , they muft at certain periods be parallel. . See the
Journal de Phyfrque of L 'Abbe Rozier, for the month of December, lygr, page 44.5.
T h i s hypothcfis of Mr. de la Metherie's correfponds partly wi t h an idea of my own, which
I communicated eight years ago at Nice to a Mr. Bofanquet, who had accompanied me
i n fonie o f my pedeftrian excurfions. This idea fuggefted itfelf to me at t i e appearance
o f a range of mountains compofed of fand, fituatcd immediately at the back, of the
fccondary chain of the Maritime Alps towards the fouth.
I DBEiii entering into a more ample detail at prefent, as I propofe offering to the
public fome time hence an account of my journey from Italy to France by the Col
de Tende,
T H E END.
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