SUBMERGED CITIES. 301 



Ayla,in his '* History of Gibraltar," assures us that the 

 sea covers the greater part of the land on which stood 

 the ancient city of Melhiria. Even in the Bay oi* 

 Gibraltar the sea has engulfed a part of Carteia, or 

 Algesiras. Three leagues to the west of Tarifa, i\m 

 city of Belon occui)ied the shore of the strait. It is 

 now engulfed, and we find traces of its existence 

 beneath the waves. 



Colonel James, in his " History of the Straits 

 of Hercules," mentions that during an earthquake, 

 some ages ago, the Isle of Gales disappeared, together 

 with the small islands opposite the city of Bactes, 

 near Tarifa, and a rock named La Perle, which was 

 once an island, and is now covered with more than 

 twelve feet of water at low-tide. The same autlior 

 speaks of violent shocks of earthquake, which, in the 

 year 246 B.C., overthrew the last remaining part of 

 the Isle of Cadiz, and left it completely covered by 

 the sea. 



The earthquake of 1755, which destroyed the city 

 of Lisbon, and was felt far and wide, was not, says 

 Colonel James, to be compared for the violence of its 

 effects with that which engulfed Gales, which was 

 of many leagues in extent. Nevertheless, it was 

 plainly felt at Gibraltar, where Colonel James himself 

 was an observer of the phenomenon. 



()n the morning of the Ist of November, 17iJ5, a 



