ÖÖI 8x 3 ^c- 0 - Acehbooks.org

20 S U M A T R A ,
or of the northern diftricts adjacent to it, could a tolerably
level fpace of four hundred yards fquare be marked out: about
Soongeylamo in particular, there is not a plain to be met with of
the fourth part of that extent. I have often, from an elevated ntuation,
where a wider range was fujedted to the eye, furveyed with admiration
the uncommon face which nature aflumes, and made enquiries and attended
to conjectures on the caufes of thefe inequalities. Some chufe
to attribute them to the fucceffive concuffions of earthquakes, through a
courfe of centuries. But they do not feem to be the effect of fuch a
caufe. There arc no abrupt fiffures; the hollows and fwellings are
for the moll part frnooth and regularly floping, fo as to exhibit not unfrequcntly
the appearance of an amphitheatre, and they are cloathed
with verdure from the fummit to the edge of the fwamp. From this
latter circumftance it is alfo evident that they are not, as others fuppofe,
occafioned by the fall of heavy rains that deluge the country for one
half of the year. Themoft fummary way of accounting for this extraordinary
unevennefs of furface were to conclude, that in the original conftruction
of our globe, Sumatra was thus formed by the fame hand which
fpread out the fandy plains of Arabia, and raifed up the Alps and Andes
beyond the region of the clouds. But this is a mode of folution, which,
if generally adopted, would become an infuperable bar to all progrefs in
natural knowledge, by damping curiofity and reftraining refearch.
Nature, we know from fufficient experience, is not only turned from
her original courfe by the induftry of man, but alfo fometimes checks
and crofles her own carreer. What has happened in fome inftances it
is not unfair to fuppofe may happen in others ; nor is it prefumption to
trace the intermediate caufes of events, which are themfelves derived
Caufcs of this from one firft, univerfal and eternal principle. To me it would feem,
that the fprings of water with which thefe parts of the ifland abound in
an uncommon degree, operate directly, though obfeurely, to the produring
this irregularity in the furface of the earth. They derive their
number, and an extraordinary portion of activity, from the loftinefs of
the ranges of mountains that occupy the interior country, and intercept
and collect the floating vapors. Precipitated into rain at fuch a height,
the