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At great depths, where there is no mo-tion there can be no abrasion. Lamanoncame much nearer the truth when he sug-gested, that submarine valleys existed be-fore the existence of the ocean, and thatcurrents were rather the effect of these val-leys than the cause of them.
But is the Sea really incompetent to pro-duce these effects? The striking resem-blance between inland cliffs and those uponthe coast affords strong presumptive evi-dence that both are owing to the samecause ; and surely cliffs upon the coast areproduced by the assaults of the Sea . He,who travels along the shores of this coun-try, will find numerous instances of townsand churches, situate too near this destruc-tive agent, having fallen a prey to its de-vastations, and many others, once inland,now no longer so, already undermined,maintaining only a precarious a existence.The concurrent testimony of nations assuresus of ravages by the Sea , far more extensivethan any of which we can obtain a know-ledge by means of personal observation.