will runne awaie vpon any inequality of ground, for euery 500.
foote allow one for descent, & so much we may with reason, in
regard of the swiftnes of many riuers, yea the most, which in
many places runnes headlong, in all places very swiftly
(especially _Nilus_ whose cateracts or downfalls are notable)
which cannot bee without some notable decliuity of the ground.
Thus then the whole course of _Nilus_ being 2700. miles from
(_F_) to (_B_) the perpendicular or plumb descent of it (_CF_)
will be 5. miles. And so high shall the fountaine stand aboue the
mouth, and the surface of the plaine Land (for riuers commonly
arise at foot of hills) which is (_BXF_) swell vp aboue the
surface of the Sea (_BWC_) or (_BY_) which hight of the Land
aboue the Sea although it bee greater then is the height of the
highest mo[~u]taines aboue the plaine Land, yet it is nothing in
comparison of the whole Earth. And this being granted (as with
most probabilitie of reason it may) it will appeare that God in
the beginning of the world imposed noe perpetuall violence vpon
nature, in gathering togeather, the waters into one place, and
being so gathered in keeping them from runing backe to cover the
earth. At the first so soone as those hollow channells were
prepared, the water did naturally slide downe into them, and out
of them without miraculous power they cannot returne. For if the
sea (_BY_) should overflow the land towards (_F_) the water must
ascend in running from (_B_) to (_F_) which is contrary to its
nature. Certainly the midland countries, whence springs of great
rivers vsually arise, doe ly so high, that the sea cannot
naturally overflow them. For as for that opinion that the water
of the sea in the middle lies on a heape higher then the water
that is by the shore; and so that it is a harder matter to saile
out of a Haven to seaward, then to come in (because they goe