the soil, the extinction of many of the original animal forms, that were extra-tropical, or at least were inhabitants of high latitudes, and were incapable of bearing the changes, whether it was ante-diluvial or post-diluvial, would necessarily follow; and again as man was become by his nature prone to sin, he as necessarily was made subject to evil. Hence, he became exposed, from the new constitution of the earth and atmosphere, to various diseases and sundry kinds of death, the term of his existence was shortened, and it was chequered with days of darkness as well as of light: and he was infested by various animals, either newly created, or then first let loose against him and his property. All these things indicate a change in the mechanical as well as other original powers set and kept in action by the Creator, and a certain dependence of two distinct classes of events upon each other. If a great alteration generally takes place in the moral condition of man, a corresponding change affects his physical one; and this alternation and conflict between good and evil, in this double series, after a long and arduous struggle, will finally be determined by the destruction of this diluvial earth and heavens, which we are assured will, in the end, be replaced by "New Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness." CHAPTER II. Geographical and Local Distribution of Animals. HAVING Considered the first creation of the animal kingdom, and the larger features of its history to the time of the Deluge, bringing us to that era when our globe had assumed its present general characters, and its population was in those circumstances that led to their present habits and stations: the next subject to be discussed is their geographical and local distribution. What had taken place in this respect before the Deluge we have no means of ascertaining. That the original temperature of the earth was, once, more equal than it is now, seems to be the general opinion of men of science, however they may differ as to its cause. If this was the case, as it probably was, any individual species might have been located in any coun try, north or south, and suffer no inconvenience from unaccustomed heat or cold, so as to interfere with its complete naturalization: the only other requisite would be a kind of food suited to its nature; and it is singular and worthy of particular attention, that a large proportion of the plants, as well as animals, that are found in a fossil state in our northern latitudes are of a tropical type or character. After their creation, and perhaps the expulsion of the first pair from Paradise, we may suppose that the various animals of the ante-diluvian world were guided to those regions in which it was the will of Providence to place them, by a divine impulse upon them, which caused them to move in the right direction. Probably before the Deluge took place, the world was every where peopled with animals: and perhaps. as Professor Buckland has suggested, the sudden change of temperature that destroyed the northern animals might be one of the predisposing causes of that event. Under the present head, the geographical distribution of our post-diluvian races of animals, the first thing to be considered 1 See above, p. 17, &c. is the means by which, after quitting the ark, they were conveyed to the other parts of the globe. The disembarkation of the venerable patriarch and his family, followed by all the ani mals preserved with him in the ark, a scene of universal jubilee to man and beast, such as the world till that day had never witnessed, took place on Mount Ararat: the stream of interpreters, ancient and modern, place this mountain in Armenia; but Shuckford, after Sir Walter Raleigh, seems to think that Ararat was farther to the east, and belonged to the great range anciently called Caucasus and Imaus, which terminates in the Himmaleh mountains to the north of India. This opinion seems to receive some confirmation from Scripture, for it is said, "As they journeyed from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar." Now the Armenian Ararat is to the north of Babylonia, whereas the Indian is to the east. Again, as the ark rested upon Ararat more than ten weeks before the tops of the mountains were seen, it seems to follow that it must have been a much higher mountain than the generality of those of the old world. The modern Ararat (Agri-Dagh) is not three miles above the level of the sea, whereas the highest peak of the Himmaleh range, Dhawalagiri, is five, and the highest mountain in the known world: so that the tops of a great number of mountains would have appeared previously had the ark rested upon the former Ararat, but not so if upon the latter. The traditions also of various nations, given by Shuckford, add strength to this opinion. In addition to these, the following lines, quoted in a late article on Sanscrit poetry, in the Quarterly Review, show what was the creed in India on this subject: In the whole world of creation None were seen but these seven sages, Menu and the fish; Years on years, and still unwearied, drew that fish the bark along, Till at length it came where reared Himavan-its lof.iest peak; There at length they came, and, smiling, thus the fish addressed the sage:— At the fishes' mandate, quickly to the peak of Himavan, Both these opinions have their difficulties, which I shall not farther discuss, but leave the decision of the question to persons better qualified than myself to direct the public judgment: I shall only observe, that perhaps the Indian station was more central and convenient for the ready dispersion of men and animals than the Armenian one. Every naturalist is aware that there are many animals that, in a wild state, are to be found only in particular countries and climates. Thus the Monkey and Parrot tribes usually inhabit a warm climate, the Bears and Gulls with many other Sea-birds, for the most part a cold one. The Kangaroo and Emu are only found in New Holland; the Lama in Peru; the Hippopotamus and Ostrich in Africa. Now we may ask, how were all these local animals conveyed from the place of disembarkation to the countries and climates that they severally inhabit! In considering this question, we must never lose sight of HIM, according to whose will, and by whose Almighty guidance, they were all led to the stations he had appointed for them, and with reference to which he had organized and formed them. Whatever second causes he might commission to effect this purpose, they were fully instructed and empowered by him to accomplish the work intrusted to them. I do not mean here to infringe the rule, Nec Deus intersit nisi dignus vindice nodus. Where the faculties, senses, and wants of an animal were sufficient for its guidance, there was no need for Divine interposition, but where these are insufficient guides, the animal must attain its destined station under some other influence. What brought the various animals to the ark previously to the deluge? Doubtless a divine impulse upon them, similar to that which caused the milch-kine to carry the ark of the covenant to Bethshemesh, with the offerings of the lords of the Philistines. Noah, though he probably selected the clean animals, at least those that were domesticated, could have little or no influence over the wild ones to compel them to congregate by pairs, at the time fixed upon for their entry into the ark. So in the dispersion of animals, wherever man went he took his flocks and herds, and domestic poultry, and those in his employment for other purposes, with him: but the wild ones were left to follow as they would, or rather as God di rected. Every one who looks at a map of the world, on Mercator's projection, can easily conceive how the animal population of the greatest part of the old world made their way into the different countries of which it consists, but when he looks at America and New Holland, he feels himself unable satisfactorily to explain the migration of animals thither, especially those that can live only in a warm climate, at least as far as regards the former. How, he might ask, did the Sloths, the Ant-eaters, and the Armadillos get to South America? If the climate of Behrings Straits, after the deluge, was as cold as it is at this day, they could never have made their way thither, and in those latitudes the temperature of which was adapted to their organization the vast Pacific presents an insuperable barrier. The same question may be asked with respect to the indigenous animals of New Holland; the Kangaroo, the Cola, the Ornithorhynchus, the Emu, and several others that are found in no other country; how did they, leaving the continent, altogether convey themselves to this their appointed abode? It is true the difficulty is not so great in this last case, on account of the numerous islands interposed between Malacca, Cochinchina, &c. and the North Coast of New Holland, but then it is unaccountable, if the transit of these animals was gradually effected by natural causes, and following that of mankind from island to island, till they reached the country to which their range is now limited, that they should have left no remains of their race in the countries and islands which they must have traversed in their route; and those that would have accompanied man would be a different tribe of animals, more fitted to minister to his wants, so that with respect to these the difficulty still remains-they could not have reached the country unless under the guidance of Providence, and the same power that accomplished their removal to that appointed for their residence, prevented their leaving any of their race in the regions through which they were to pass. There is only one supposition that will enable us to account for the transport of these animals in a natural way, which is this, that immediately subsequent to the deluge, America and New Holland, and the various other islands that are inhabited by peculiar animals, were once connected with Asia and Africa, by the intervention of lands that have since been submerged. Plato, in his Timæus, relates a tradition concerning an island called Atlantis, which he describes as bigger than Asia and Africa, situated before the pillars of Hercules, which after an earthquake was swallowed up by the sea. According to his statement, this account was given by the Egyptian priests at Sais, to Solon, the Athenian legislator. Catcott, in his history of the deluge, seems to give some credit to this tradition, and supposes that Phaleg took his name not from the confusion of tongues at Babel, and the subsequent division of the earth amongst the families of the three sons of Noah, but from its division, occasioned by the subsidence of this great island, by which the occidental were separated from the oriental countries of the globe. Philo Judæus speaks of this catastrophe in terms that imply he gave credit to it, as does also Tertullian; but it appears to me to rest on too uncertain a base, and to be |