’TIS true, there would not be altogether so much Water required for the Land as for the Sea, to raise them to an equal height; because Mountains and Hills would fill up part of that Space upon the Land, and so make less Water requisite. But to compensate this, and confirm our Computation, we must consider in the first Place, that we have taken a much less height of the Mountains than is requisite, if we respect the Mediterraneous Mountains, or those that are at a great distance from the Sea; for their Height above the Surface of the Sea, computing the Declivity of the Land all along from the Mountains to the Sea-side (and that there is such a Declivity is manifest from the Course and Descent of the Rivers) is far greater than the Proportion we have taken: The height of Mountains is usually taken from the Foot of them, or from the next Plain, which if it be far from the Sea, we may reasonably allow as much for the Declension of the Land from that place to the Sea, as for the immediate Height of the Mountain: So, for Instance, the Mountains of the Moon in _Africa_, whence the _Nile_ flows, and after a long Course falls into the Mediterranean Sea by _Egypt_, are so much higher than the Surface of that Sea, first, as the Ascent of the Land is from the Sea to the Foot of the Mountains, and then as the Height of the Mountains is from the bottom to the top: For both these are to be computed when you measure the Height of a Mountain, or of a mountainous Land, in respect of the Sea: And the Height of Mountains to the Sea being thus computed, there would be need of six or eight Oceans to raise the Sea alone as high as the highest Inland Mountains: And this is more than enough to compensate the less Quantity of Water that would be requisite upon the Land. Besides, we must consider the Regions of the Air upwards to be more capacious than a Region of the same Thickness in or near the Earth, so as if an Ocean pour’d upon the Surface of the dry Land, supposing it were all smooth, would rise to the Height of half a quarter of a Mile every where; the like Quantity of Water pour’d again at the Height of the Mountains would not have altogether the same effect, or would not there raise the Mass half a quarter of a Mile higher; for the Surfaces of a Globe, the farther they are from their Center, are the greater; and so accordingly the Regions that belong to them. And, lastly, we must consider, that there are some Countries or Valleys very low, and also many Caverns or Cavities within the Earth, all which in this Case were to be first fill’d with Water. These Things being compar’d and estimated, we shall find, that notwithstanding the Room that Hills and Mountains take up on the dry Land, there would be at least eight Oceans required, or a Quantity of Water eight times as great as the Ocean, to bring an Universal Deluge upon the Earth, as that Deluge is ordinarily understood and explained.