NATURE IN MOTION. 39 



out of the frozen sea, in which it has been buried 

 since the days when it was the home of those gigantic 

 mammoths that are now found there encased and pre- 

 served in eternal i^e, to feed with their flesh the hungry 

 natives, and to furnish the world with the produce of 

 strange, inexhaustible ivory mines. Not far from Naples, 

 near Puzzuoli, there are parts of an ancient temple of 

 the Egyptian god Serapis still standing three beautiful 

 columns, especially, speak of its former splendor. At a 

 considerable height, they present the curious sight of 

 being worm-eaten; and recent, careful researches leave no 

 doubt, that the waters of the Mediterranean once covered 

 them so high as to bring these, their upper parts, within 

 reach of the sea-worms. Since then, the land has risen 

 high; but, stranger still, they are, by a mysterious force, 

 once more to be submerged. Already, the floor of the 

 temple is again covered with water; and a century hence, 

 new generations of molluscs may dwell in the same 

 abandoned homes of their fathers, which are now beyond 

 the reach of the highest waves. An old Capuchin monk, 

 who lives near by, is fond of telling visitors how he. 

 himself, in his youth, had gathered grapes in the vine- 

 yards of his convent, over which now fisherboats pass 

 in deep water. Venice, also, the venerable city of the 

 doges, sinks year after year deeper into the arms of 

 her betrothed bride, as if to hide her shame and her 

 disgrace in the bosom of the Adriatic. Already in 1722, 

 when the pavement of the beautiful place of S. Marco 

 was taken up, the workmen found, at a considerable depth 

 below, an ancient pavement, which was then far below 



