By Dr. Phene, F.8.A., F.R.G.S. 



243 



before the Nurhage were built, and may have been connected with 

 the older structures in Sardinia, as every old tower in Minorca still 

 has a cave close to it. 



The remains in Minorca again, differ altogether from the Nurhags 

 of Sardiuia, by having, as a part of them, the stone tables, said to 

 be for sacrifice, and the circles of monoliths, already described, neither 

 of which are found in Sardinia. If they existed previously, they 

 were probably removed on the coming of Iolaus, and the new comers 

 introduced their own religion. Another special class of monuments 

 in Minorca differs altogether from anything in Sardinia. These are 

 vast ships built of stone of an immense age, as proved by their 

 masonry. 



Though not an archaeological subject, I cannot omit, while making 

 a digression from the Talyots — the name given to the conical struc- 

 tures in Minorca — giving some notice of the beautiful effects of the 

 cueva de la Hermita in the larger island. 



The entrance to this cave is at a considerable elevation on the 

 coast, which being attained the descent is easy. The dimensions 

 are unusual, and the inspection occupies some hours. At intervals 

 Bengal lights are burned, when a view opens which puts even the 

 elegant tracery of Gothic and Moorish architecture aside. Long 

 lines of light straight and uniform columns, seem to multiply the 

 effects of Westminster Abbey, while there is hardly a form, from 

 magnificent organs, to pulpits, side chapels, and even mural monu- 

 ments, that the eye does not figure to itself as realities. In my 

 former papers before different societies I have endeavoured in some 

 slight degree to represent on diagrams the extraordinary effects of 

 the carbonate of lime deposits, but here power seems to fail from the 

 vastness and beauty of the effects, and the transitory period of 

 lighting up at different stages of the way ; the variety and detail 

 of what I can hardly help calling the architectural devices is beyond 

 description, and the most extraordinary feature is that all seems in 

 proportion, and columns as lofty as those of Westminster Abbey are 

 of uniform thickness in the shafts, and swell out in foliation at their 

 extreme height, while there is also a great uniformity in their dis- 

 tances. The progress of the stalactitic formation has evidently been 



