4*

Of the Chaos

dencc of Nature, because the edges of the 111do in that posture with most ease cut th 6Water flowing to and fro: And should th 6flat side be objected to the Stream, it wouldbe turned edge wile by the force of it; becausein that site it doth least resist the motion o[the Water: whereas did the Branches otthose Plants grow round as in Trees >they would be thrown down backward andforward every Tide. Nay not only the lies'baceous and woody submarine Plants, but e'ven the Lithophyta themselves astect tlsemanner ol growing, if they be any thing!ramose and rise to a considerable height,

I have observed in various kinds of Corahand Tori. Hence I suspect thole Relationsof Trees growing at the bottom of the Sea>and bringing forth Fruit there. As for theMaldiva Nut, till better information, I ad'here to Garcias his Opinion, That the Tree*that bare thole Nuts were of old time, toge-ther with the Land on which they grew,over'whelmed by the inundations of the Sea, andthere hardned in the Earth, and afterwardscast up by the working of the Sea again.Which thing is very probable • for to thisday some of thole Maldiva Islands are noWand then drowned and swallowed up by theSea. Further I do believe, that in the greatdepths of the Sea there grow no Plants at

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