THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA. 247 



Perhaps the nearest physical parallel to the Mediterranean 

 might be found in the GKilf of Mexico ; detached from the 

 Atlantic by the continuous chain of the Leeward Islands and 

 Bahamas, and similarly divided into two great basins by the 

 projection of Cuba between the Florida and Honduras coasts. 

 The volcanic isles of this gulf afford a further analogy ; and 

 yet more, the extraordinary isthmus which divides the Atlantic 

 and Pacific Oceans ; the only comparable instance on the 

 globe to that of Suez ; singularly alike, too, in the length 

 and outline of that vast circuit of at least 15,000 miles, by 

 which alone navigable communication can now be made 

 between the waters pressing on each side this narrow neck of 

 land. Human enterprise, rioting at this moment in a trium- 

 phant struggle with all natural obstacles, is seeking simul- 

 taneously to cut a passage for ships across each isthmus. 

 Though the Suez Canal scheme of M. Lesseps (animated 

 perhaps by a certain political feeling,) has already entered 

 upon its workings, we see no reason to alter the opinion we 

 formerly expressed, that it will end in practical failure. The 

 high authority of Mr. Stephenson confirms us in this belief. 



But we have not yet done with the physical wonders of the 

 Mediterranean. Its volcanoes, active or extinct, and the 

 earthquakes which are so frequent and violent within its area, 

 merit more especial notice ; expressing, as they do, those local 

 subterranean forces which have been concerned in forming 

 and shaping this extraordinary ocean gulf. We have already 

 traced the singular line of volcanic action which may be said 

 to divide the Mediterranean into two great basins, mani- 

 festly defined by the continuity of these great natural 

 phenomena. It is needless to quote the Greek poets or his- 

 torians in proof of the antiquity of the fires of ^Etna and the 

 ^Eolian Isles, since the series of volcanic rocks around them 

 attest ages of prior eruption, of which no human record 

 exists. Monte Somma, that strange and solitary remnant of 



