76 



INLAND SEA- CLIFFS AND 



[Ch. VI. 



face of the terrace c b must have been covered by the Mediterranean. 

 There was a pause, therefore, in the upward movement, when the waves 



Fig. 94. 



Sea C- 



of the sea had time to carve out the platform c b ; but there may have 

 been many other stationary periods of minor duration. Suppose, for 

 example, that a series of escarpments e, /, g, h, once existed, and that 

 the sea, during a long interval free from subterranean movements, 

 advances along the line c b, all preceding cliffs must have been 

 swept away one after the other, and reduced to the single precipice 

 a b. 



That such a series of smaller cliffs, as those represented at e, f, g, h, 

 fig. 94, did really once exist at intermediate heights in place of the single 

 precipice a 6, is rendered highly probable by the fact, that in certain 

 bays and inland valleys opening towards the east coast of Sicily, and not 

 far from the section given in fig. 94, the solid limestone is shaped out 

 into a great succession of ledges, separated from each other by small 

 vertical cliffs. These are sometimes so numerous, one above the other, 



Fig. 95. 



Valley called Gozzo degli Martiri, below Melilli, Yal di Noto. 



that where there is a bend at the head of a valley, they produce an ef- 

 fect singularly resembling the seats of a Roman amphitheatre. A good 



