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Show REMAlr\S OF. QUADRUPEDS lN MARL LAKES. [Ch. XV • . . have fallen in when crossing the frozen of different species, 1 . be more treacherous than the . . t for not nng can surface m wm er, . . consequence of the springs, . 1 vered with snow, m ICe w 1en co d h' h always retaining an equal · 1 umerous an w IC ' wh1c 1 are n cause th' e I. ce, m. certa·m spo ts , to be extremely temperature: 1 rt of the lake, it is strong enough thin while, m every ot ler pa to b~ar the heaviest weights. I As the bones o f mamm alia are often so abundan. t y pre-d · peat an d m. sue h lal{es as we have J. ust described, the serve m ' f pon a coast may sometimes throw down encroachments o a sea u . d b the imbedded skeletons, so that they may be carne awa! y tides and currents, an d en t om bed in subaq.u eous forma.t iOnhs. Some of the sma1 1 er quad rupeds ' also ' wh1ch burrow m. t e ground as we ll as. I.e p t1'l es and every species of pla• nt, are hable to be ca' st d own m. to the waves by this cause, .whiCh must· no1t be over1 o o k ed , although we believe it to be of com1 parba tivte y small I. mportance amongs t the numerous . agents w .J ere y er- restrial orgam.c remam.l :>~ may be included m submarme strata. CHAPTER XVI. Imbedding of the remains of man and his works in subaqueous strata-Drifting of bodies to the sea by river-inundations-Destruction of bridges and housesBurial of human bodies in the sea-Loss of lives by shipwreck-Circumstances under which human corpses may be preserved under a great thickness of recent deposits-Number of wrecked vessels-Durable character of many of their contents- Examples of fossil skeletons of men-Of fossil canoes, ships, and works of art-Of the chemical changes which certain metallic instruments have undergone after long submergence-Effects of the subsidence of land in imbedding cities and forests in subaqueous strata-Earthquake ofCutch in 1819- Submarine forests-Berkley's arguments Cor the recent date of the creation of man-Concluding remarks. WE shall now proceed to inquire in what manner the mortal remains of man and the works of his hands may be permanently preserved in subaqueous strata. Of the many hundred million human beings which perish in the course of every century on the land, every vestige is usually destroyed in the course of a few thousand years, but of the smaller number that perish in the waters, a considerable proportion must frequently be entombed, under such circumstances, that parts of them may endure throughout entire geological epochs. We have already seen how the bodies of men, together with those of the inferior animals, are occasionally washed down during river-inundations into seas and lakes, of which we shall now enumerate some additional examples. Belzoni witnessed a flood on the Nile in September, 1818, where, although the river only rose three f€et and a half above its ordinal'y level, several villages, with some hundreds of men, women, and children, were swept away*· We mentioned in a former volume that a rise of six feet of water in the Ganges in 1763, was attended with a much greater loss of lives. In the year 1771, at the time of the bursting of the Sol- * Nnrrative of Discove1·y in Egypt, &c. London, 1820, |