150 Hutton — Physical Geology of Malta. 



fresh- water lakes, and several active volcanos. A long blank 

 follows, and the next information we possess is that, at the com- 

 mencement of the Pleistocene period, submarine volcanic distur- 

 bances began, which resulted in the land being raised and Etna 

 formed. It was during this upheaval that most of the faults appear 

 to have been made, but not the small branch fault under Torre 

 Hamra. The main and Krendi faults are, no doubt, continued 

 under the sea, and meet, as shown by the dotted lines on the 

 map (Fig. I.). I suppose that during this rise, that portion of 

 land contained between these faults was raised 350 feet above 

 the surrounding country ; and this will account both for the de- 

 creasing throw of the main fault towards Madalena, and for the 

 dip of the sotith-east portion of the Island. Malta now was part 

 of a continent which included most of Europe, the Mediterranean 

 area, and the north of Africa; the Desert of Sahara and Egypt 

 being then sea. A large river, or lake, appears to have existed 

 south-west of the Island, one shore of which was partly formed 

 by the clijffs of these two faults ; the Bengemma hills being 

 a promontory jutting out into it. It was this lake, or river, 

 that formed the Elephant-bed, and bound together into a firm 

 conglomerate the fragments of rock that fell from the cliffs. 

 I suppose those portions of the bed below the Maghlec caves to 

 have been at this time on the same level as those at Eomm-er-rih. 



Then followed the Glacial period, at the close of which the land 

 forming the present basin of the Mediterranean again sank, that part- 

 of it which now constitutes Malta to rise once more, barren and de- 

 nuded of all its surface-soil, with the exception of portione retained 

 in the fissures of the rocks, which have been again dug out by 

 the unceasing industry of the Maltese, and spread thinly over parts 

 of the Island ; and which, though still retaining abundant proofs of 

 its former fei'tility, is but a very small remnant of what once, 

 probably, supported forests, in which herds of elephants browsed. 

 It was during this last rise that the branch fault under Torre 

 Hamra was formed, the piece west of it slipping down 200 feet 

 more, and thus escaping the effects of the denudation, which swept 

 off so much of the upper beds. 



When the Bengemma Hills were about 500 feet above the sea- 

 level, a long pause in the upward movement evidently took place, 

 during which the upper strata were washed away from the plain on 

 the eastern side of the Island, which slopes from the sea to the table- 

 land of Citta Vecchia, and the terrace on which Torre Hamra stands, 

 and where the Maghlec caves are situated, was cut by the sea out of 

 the hard Lower Limestone. Another rise, of more than 200 feet, was 

 followed by another period of rest, during which the plateau below 

 Torre Hamra, and the plain from Cala-San-Marco to Gebel-el-Zara, 

 "V^ere formed. The Island then once more rose some 60 or 70 feet, 

 and attained its present position. That the land for some time past 

 has remained stationary, we have evidence in the numerous rocks 

 seen on the west coast. Fig. Y. represents some of these near Gain 

 Toffiha, which are composed of the hard parts of the Upper Lime- 



