74 ESXAND SEA-CLIFFS [Ch. VI 



only on the present shore, but at the base of the ancient cliffs far in the 

 interior. Lastly, it remains only to speak of the terraces, which extend 

 with a gentle slope from the base of almost all the inland cliffs, and are 

 for the most part narrow where the rock is hard, but sometimes half a 

 mile or more in breadth where it is soft. They are the effects of the 

 encroachment of the ancient sea upon the shore at those levels at which 

 the land remained for a long time stationary. The justness of this view 

 is apparent on examining the shape of the modem shore wherever the 

 sea is advancing upon the land, and removing annually small portions 

 of undermined rock. By this agency a submarine platform is produced 

 on which we may walk for some distance from the beach in shallow 

 water, the increase of depth being veiy gradual, until we reach a point 

 where the bottom plunges down suddenly. This platform is widened 

 with more or less rapidity according to the hardness of the rocks, and 

 when upraised it constitutes an inland terrace. 



But the four principal lines of cliff observed in the Morea do not 

 imply, as some have imagined, four great eras of sudden upheaval ; they 

 simply indicate the intermittance of the upheaving force. Had the rise 

 of the land been continuous and uninterrupted, there would have been 

 no one prominent line of cliff ; for every portion of the surface having 

 been, in its turn, and for an equal period of time, a sea-shore, would 

 have presented a nearly similar aspect. But if pauses occur in the pro- 

 cess of upheaval, the waves and currents have time to sap, throw down, 

 and clear away considerable masses of rock, and to shape out at several 

 successive levels lofty ranges of cliffs with broad terraces at their base. 



There are some levelled spaces, however, both ancient and modern, in 

 the Morea, which are not due to denudation, although resembling in 

 outline the terraces above described. They may be called Terraces of 

 Deposition, since they have resulted from the gain of land upon the sea 

 where rivers and torrents have produced deltas. If the sedimentary 

 matter has filled up a bay or gulf surrounded by steep mountains, a flat 

 plain is formed skirting the inland precipices ; and if these deposits are 

 upraised, they form a feature in the landscape very similar to the areas 

 of denudation before described. 



In the island of Sicily I have examined many inland cliffs like those 

 of the Morea ; as, for example, near Palermo, where a precipice is seen 

 consisting of limestone, at the base of which are numerous caves. One 

 of these, called San Ciro, about 2 miles distant from Palermo, is about 

 20 feet high, 10 wide, and 180 above the sea. Within it is found an 

 ancient beach (b, fig. 93), formed of pebbles of various rocks, many of 

 which must have come from places far remote. Broken pieces of coral 

 and shell, especially of oysters and pectens, are seen intermingled with 

 the pebbles. Immediately above the level of this beach, serpulce are 

 still found adhering to the face of the rock, and the limestone is perfo- 

 rated by lithodomi. Within the grotto, also, at the same level, similar 

 perforations occur ; and so numerous are the holes, that the rock is com- 

 pared by Hoffmann to a target pierced by musket balls. But in order 



