Buffon's Natural History, Volume 02 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Mineral, &c. &cBuffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
History
Buffon's Natural History, Volume 02 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Mineral, &c. &c
Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
Natural history
If we particularly examine these seas, we shall find the sea of China
forms a very deep bay in its northern part, which commences at the
island of Fungma, and terminates at the frontier of the province of
Pekin, about 50 leagues distance from that capital of the Chinese
empire. This bay, in its most interior and narrowest part, is called
the Gulph of Changi. It is very probable that this gulph, and a part of
the sea of China, have been formed by the ocean, which has submerged
all the ancient country, of which only the islands before-mentioned
are now to be seen. In this southern part are the bays of Tonquin and
Siam, near which is the peninsula of Malacco, formed by a long chain
of mountains, whose direction is from north to south, and the Andaman
islands, another chain of mountains in the same direction, and which
appear to be only a succession of the mountains of Sumatra.
The ocean afterwards forms the great Gulph of Bengal, in which we may
remark, that the peninsula of Indus forms a concave curb towards the
east, nearly like the great bay of the eastern continent, which seems
to have been also produced by the same motion of the ocean from east
to west. In this peninsula are the mountains of Gates, which have a
direction from north to south, as far as Cape Comorin, and the Island
of Ceylon seems to have been separated from this part of the continent.
The Maldiva islands are only another chain of mountains, whose
direction is also the same. After these follows the Arabian Gulph,
which sends out four arms into the country; the two greatest on the
western side, and the two smallest on the east. The first of these arms
on the east side is the Bay of Cambaia, which is not above 50 or 60
leagues in length: this receives two very considerable rivers, viz. the
Tapti and the Baroche, which Pietro de Valle calls the Mehi: the second
arm, towards the east, is famous for the velocity and height of its
tides, which are greater than in any other part of the world, and which
extends for more than 50 leagues. Many rivers fall into this gulph, as
the Indus, the Padar, &c. which have brought so great a quantity of
earth and mud to their mouths as to raise the bottom almost to a level,
the inclination of which is so gentle, that the tide extends to a very
great distance. The first arm on the west side in the Persian Gulph,
which spreads more than 250 leagues on the land; and the second is the
Red Sea, which extends more than 680, computing it from the island
Socotora. These two arms should be regarded as two mediterranean seas,
taking them from beyond the straits of Ormuz and Babelmandel: they
are both subject to the tides, but this is occasioned by their being
so near the equator, where the motion of the tides is much greater
than in any other climate; and besides they are both very long and
narrow. The motion of the tides is more rapid in the Red Sea than in
the Persian Gulph, because the Red Sea is near three times longer and
quite as narrow.
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