of extinct nations; and it would be more reasonable to suppose that the
pillars and temples of Palmyra were raised by the wandering Arabs of the
desert, than to imagine that the vestiges of peculiar animated forms in
the strata beneath the surface belonged to the early and infant families
of the beings that at present inhabit it.

_Onu_.--I am convinced. I shall push my arguments no further, for I will
not support the sophisms of that school which supposes that living nature
has undergone gradual changes by the effects of its irritabilities and
appetencies; that the fish has in millions of generations ripened into
the quadruped, and the quadruped into the man; and that the system of
life by its own inherent powers has fitted itself to the physical changes
in the system of the universe. To this absurd, vague, atheistical
doctrine, I prefer even the dream of plastic powers, or that other more
modern dream, that the secondary strata were created, filled with
remains, as it were, of animal life, to confound the speculations of our
geological reasoners.

_The Unknown_.--I am glad you have not retreated into the desert and
defenceless wilderness of scepticism, or of false and feeble philosophy.
I should not have thought it worth my while to have followed you there; I
should as soon think of arguing with the peasant who informs me that the
basaltic columns of Antrim or of Staffa were the works of human art and
raised by the giant Finmacoul.

At this moment, one of our servants came to inform me that a dinner which
had been preparing for us at the farmhouse was ready; we asked the
stranger to do us the honour to partake of our repast; he assented, and
the following conversation took place at table.