BUFFON's
NATURAL HISTORY.
PROOF OF THE THEORY OF THE EARTH.
[ARTICLE XI.]
OF SEAS AND LAKES.
The ocean surrounds the earth on all sides, and penetrates into the interior parts of different countries, often by large openings, and frequently by small straits; it forms mediterranean seas, some of which participate of its motions of flux and reflux, and others seem to have nothing in common with it except the continuity of water. We shall follow the ocean through all its extent and windings, enumerating at the same time all the mediterranean seas, and endeavour to distinguish them from those which should be only called bays, or gulphs, and lakes.
The sea which washes the western coasts of France forms a gulph between Spain and Britain; this gulph, which mariners call the Bay of Biscay, is very open, and the point which projects farthest inland is between Bayonne and St. Sebastian; another great projection is between Rochelle and Rochefort: this gulph begins at Cape Ortegal, and ends at Brest, where a strait commences between the south point of Britain and Cape Lizard. This strait, which at first is very large, forms a small gulph in Normandy, the most projecting point of which is at Auranche; it continues pretty broad until it comes to the channel at the foot of Calais, where it is very narrow; afterwards it grows broader on a sudden, and ends between the Texel and the coast of England at Norwich; at the Texel it forms a small mediterranean sea, called Zuyder-zee, and many other great canals, which are not very deep.
After that the ocean forms a great gulph called the German Ocean; it begins at the northern point of Scotland, runs along the eastern coast of Scotland and England as far as Norwich, from thence to the Texel, along the coasts of Holland and Germany, Jutland, Norway, and above Bergen. This gulph might be taken for a mediterranean sea, because the Orkney islands partly shut up its opening, and seem to be directed as if they were a continuation of the mountains of Norway. It forms a large strait, which begins at the southern point of Norway, and continues very broad to the Island of Zetland, where it narrows all at once, and forms between the coasts of Sweden, the islands of Denmark and Jutland, four small straits; after which it widens to a small gulph, the most projecting point of which is at Lubec: from thence it continues pretty broad to the southern extremity of Sweden, when it grows broader and broader, and forms the Baltic Sea, which is a mediterranean, extending from south to north near 300 leagues, comprehending the gulph of Bothnia, which is in fact only a continuation of it. This sea has two more gulphs, that of Livonia, whose most projecting point is near Mittau and Riga, and that of Finland, which is an arm of the Baltic, extending between Livonia and Finland to Petersburgh, and communicating with the lake Ladoga, and even with the lake Onega, which communicates by the river Onega to the White Sea. All this extent of water, which forms the Baltic Sea, the gulphs of Bothnia, Finland, and Livonia, must be looked upon as one great lake, supported by a great number of rivers which it receives, as the Oder, the Vistula, the Niemen, the Droine, in Germany and Poland; other rivers in Livonia and Finland; others still greater, which come from Lapland, Tornea, the Calis, Lula, Pithea, Uma, and many others that come from Sweden. These rivers, which are very large, are more than 40, including the rivers they receive, which cannot fail of producing a quantity of water sufficient to support the Baltic. Besides, this sea has no flux nor reflux, although it is very narrow and very salt. If we consider also the bearing of the country, and the number of lakes and morasses in Finland and Sweden, we shall be inclined to look on it not as a sea, but as a great lake formed by the abundance of waters from the adjacent lands, and which has forced a passage near Denmark into the ocean, where in fact, according to the account of mariners, they still continue to flow.
From the beginning of the gulph which forms the German Sea, and which terminates above Bergen, the ocean follows the coasts of Norway, Swedish Lapland, North Lapland, and Muscovy Lapland, at the eastern part of which it forms a large strait, which borders a mediterranean called the White Sea, which may be likewise regarded as a great lake; for it receives 12 or 13 rivers, all very considerable, and which are more than sufficient to support it; its water is but a little salt. Besides, in many parts it is very near communicating with the Baltic Sea; it has even a real one with the gulph of Finland, for, by ascending the river Onega, we come to a lake of the same name; from this lake Onega there are two rivers of communication with the lake Ladoga; this last communicates by a large arm with the gulph of Finland; and there are many parts in Swedish Lapland, the waters of which run almost indifferently either into the White Sea, or the gulphs of Bothnia and Finland; and all this country being full of lakes and morasses, the Baltic and White Seas seem to be the receptacles of its waters, and which afterwards discharge themselves into the Frozen and German Sea.