he ore.
To the end of darkness and to all extremes man searcheth,
For the stones of darkness and the shadow of death.
He opens a passage [shaft] from where men dwell,
Unsupported by the foot, they hang down and swing to and fro.[80]
The earth--out of it cometh bread;
And beneath, it is overturned as by fire.[81]
Its stones are the place of sapphires,
And it hath lumps[82] of gold.
The path (thereto) the bird of prey hath not known,
The vulture's eye hath not seen it.[83]
The wild beasts' whelps have not trodden it,
The lion hath not passed over it.
Man layeth his hand on the hard rock,
He turneth up the mountains from their roots,
He cutteth channels [_adits_] in the rocks,
His eye seeth every precious thing.
He restraineth the streams from trickling,
And bringeth the hidden thing to light.
But where shall wisdom be found,
And where is the place of understanding?"

This passage, incidentally introduced, gives us a glimpse of the
knowledge of the interior of the earth and its products, as it existed
in an age probably anterior to that of Moses. It brings before us the
repositories of the valuable metals and gems--the mining operations,
apparently of some magnitude and difficulty, undertaken in extracting
them--and the wonderful structure of the earth itself, green and
productive at the surface, rich in precious metals beneath, and deeper
still the abode of intense subterranean fires. The only thing wanting
to give completeness to the picture is some mention of the fossil
remains buried in the earth; and, as the main thought is the eager and
successful search for useful minerals, this can hardly be regarded as
a defect. The application of all this is finer than almost any thing
else in didactic poetry. Man can explore depths of the earth
inaccessible to all other creatures, and extract thence treasures of
inestimable value; yet, after thus exhausting all the natural riches
of the earth, he too often lacks that highest wisdom which alone can
fit him for the true ends of his spiritual being. How true is all
this, even in our own wonder-working days! A poet of to-day could
scarcely say more of subterranean wonders, or say it more truthfully
and beautifully; nor could he arrive at a conclusion more pregnant
with the highest philosophy than the closing words:

"The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
And to depart from evil is understanding."

The emergence of the dry land is