HARBOUR OF JBERBERAH. 21 



idea, that it is not a pre-concerted work of art 

 rather than the casual production of nature. This 

 was certainly my first impression ; and for some 

 time I considered it to have been constructed in a 

 remote period of antiquity, when the whole of this 

 coast was the busy scene of an extensive and lucra- 

 tive commerce, but that in the revolution of time 

 and the everchanging pursuits of man, the origin 

 of this sea-protecting mole had been forgotten, 

 and the only remembrance of the people who 

 raised it was to be found in its name, which cer- 

 tainly recalls to the mind that of a long-lost 

 nation, the Berbers of Africa. This was theory, of 

 course, and my opinion soon changed, when I 

 found that no other evidence of man's residence 

 existed in this neighbourhood ; no traces whatever 

 of that industry and wealth which must have 

 characterized the people who could have projected 

 and completed such an extensive marine defence 

 for their navy and commerce. Subsequently also, 

 geological examinations, and comparison with other 

 older reefs of sand and coral, now forming part 

 of, and which extend some distance inland, 

 enabled me to establish its identity with them in 

 structure and mineral composition. Finally, there- 

 fore, I became convinced that this was another of 

 those beautiful and benevolent works that Nature — 

 "our kindest mother still" — has provided for the 

 security of her favourite, man ; for with an antici- 

 pating care she has here constructed for him, by a 



