T RAV

tlere.GEOLOG1CAL CON1ECTURES. 215lt is probable that the vast, plains of desert in theinterior,south of the Atlantic range, in conforrnity with the course whereof, andOf the rule ()f Nature, is thatof the great rivers, may have been thusproduced, and that a submerged·country, once fertilized by the streamswliicbj descendiùg fromtihe southern skirts of Atlas, are now absorbedintbose sands which" , . non aldus ignisRapta vehit quantumque licet consurgel'e furoo,Et violare diero, tantum tenet aëra pulvis-"and which lie in a depth Dot to be probed, now coyer what was fertileme~dows apd luxuriant forests :-for hurnidity is the natura} tendencyof;the B0\flthèf Atlas, and the sandsof these deserts must be a marinedeposit :a:nd itdoes not app~arpossible.thats"cbiJ.:lcOJlSistepcy coula. .~exist uoder the systematic laWB of.Nature. At a certain distance fromtbis mountainous mass, the streams which fall direct from it cease toBow.Absorption is indeed a principle, which, gains strength in Rro..portion toits progress of space and duration; and it is evidently so feIttbroughout these regions.Perhaps the stone-fC?undations, yet traceableon the south side of these mountains, may be remains of the priemitive elnpire of the children of Ham.Unless we suppose Atlas apersonage in tbephysieal sense, and t11at he was:Lamech.1t .fs; noticeable wh~t a: strong sense of suc~an event is inlpresseduniversally o,nt'Ile buman mind. How feeljIlg~y does the classicalpoetexpress this ! But Atlas towered .above the comp~ratively pU,ny in..v.a