manner supposed to be done, is
altogether incompetent for the purpose which is now considered. I
flatter myself, that when the Chevalier de Dolomieu, who has employed
his uncommon talents in examining and elucidating the effects of fire in
the bowels of those burning mountains, shall consider and examine the
effects of time upon the surface of the earth, he will be ready to adopt
my opinion, that there is no occasion to have recourse to any unknown
cause, in explaining appearances which are every where to be found,
although not always attended with such remarkable circumstances as those
with which his labours have enriched natural history.

It may be proper to give a view of the operations of nature upon the
Apennines. It is from an account of a journey into the province of
Abruzzo, by Sir William Hamilton. Phil. Trans. 1786.

The road follows the windings of the Garigliano, which is here a
beautiful clear trout stream, with a great variety of cascades and
water-falls, particularly a double one at Isola, near which place CICERO
had a villa; and there are still some remains of it, though converted
into a chapel. The valley is extensive, and rich with fruit trees, corn,
vines, and olives. Large tracts of land are here and there covered with
woods of oak and chestnut, all timber trees of the largest size. The
mountains nearest the valley rise gently, and are adorned with either
modern castles towns, and villages, or the ruins of ancient ones. The
next range of mountains, rising behind these, are covered with pines,
larches, and such trees and shrubs as usually abound in a like
situation; and above them a third range of mountains and rocks, being
the most elevated part of the Apennine, rise much higher, and, being
covered with eternal snow, make a beautiful contrast with the rich
valley above mentioned; and the snow is at so great a distance as not to
give that uncomfortable chill to the air which I have always found in
the narrow valleys of the Alps and the Tyrol.

Having thus examined the alpine countries both of the Old World and the
New, it remains to observe some river in a more low or level country
emptying itself into a sea that does not communicate with the ocean. The
Wolga will now serve for this purpose; and we shall take our facts from
the observations of those men of science who were employed by their
enlightened Sovereign to give the natural as well as the economical
history of her dominions.

Russia may be