CHAPTER I. 



GEOLOGICAL OUTLINE, 



Ancient and Modern Geologists. Classification of Strata. 

 Upper or Coral Limestone. Yellow Sandstone and Blue 

 Clay. Free-stone. Lower Limestone. The Great and Lesser 

 Faults. Fossil Fauna. 



THE Knights of St. John had in their ranks 

 some few observers of natural phenomena. In 1647 

 the historian Abela wrote quaintly concerning cert- 

 ain huge bones which he somewhat credulously 

 supposed to be those of the giant builders of the 

 ancient temples of Malta and Gozo, and in 1747, 

 Scilla, the well known Sicilian artist, pourfcrayed 

 several characteristic Malttse fossils and the teeth 

 of the carnivorous fossil whale Zeuglodon, the re- 

 mains of which have also been met with in North 

 America. The Commander Dolomieu about a century 

 ago laboured in the same field, but it is to the 

 patient industry of Professor Edward Forbes, Cap- 

 tain Spratt R. N., Dr. A. L. Adams M. A., Dr. 

 Wright and others, that we are chiefly indebted for 

 our knowledge of the various geological formations 

 of the Maltese islands, and it is from their works 



