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oned ways, but are of the same Origin and Antiquity
with the Chanel of the Sea; and such are the generality of our Islands; They were not made of heaps of
Sands, nor torn from any Continent, but are as ancient as the Continents themselves, namely, ever since
the Deluge, the common Parent of them both. Nor
is there any difficulty to understand how Islands were
made at the dissolution of the Earth, any more than
how Continents were made; for Islands are but lesser
Continents, or Continents greater Islands; and according as Continents were made of greater masses of
Earth or greater fragments standing above the Water, so Islands were made of less, but so big always,
and in such a posture, as to bear their tops above the
water. Yet though they agree thus far, there is a
particular difference to be taken notice of as to their
Origin; for the Continents were made of those three
or four primary masses into which the falling Orb of
the Earth was divided, but the Islands were made of
the fractures of these, and broken off by the fall from
the skirts and extremities of the Continents; We noted before, that when those great masses and primary fragments came to dash upon the Abysse in their
fall, the sudden stop of the motion, and the weighty
bulk of the descending fragment broke off all the
edges and extremities of it, which edges and extremities broken off made the Islands; And accordingly
we see that they generally lie scatter'd along the sides
of the Continents, and are but splinters, as it were, of
those greater bodies. 'Tis true, besides these, there
were an infinite number of other pieces broke off
that do not appear, some making Rocks under water,
some shallows and banks in the Sea; but the greatest
of them when they fell either one upon another, or in
such a posture as to prop up one another, their heads
and higher parts would stand out of the water and
make Islands.
Thus I conceive the Islands of the Sea were at first
produc'd; we cannot wonder therefore that they
should be so numerous, or far more numerous than
the Continents; These are the Parents, and those are
the Children; Nor can we wonder to see along the
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