164 
POPULAR SCIENCE RETIEW. 
fathoms, and this deep basin extends as far to the east as 
Cyprus and Asia Minor. Between Candia and the Peloponeso 
the sea is 460 fathoms deep. An elevation therefore of 
500 f. would allow of the passage of Hippopotamus Pentlandi 
from Candia to the Peleponese, and it would moreover allow 
of the animal ranging thence by Southern Italy into Sicily 
and Malta. I have, therefore, represented in the map what 
would be the necessary result of the elevation of the bottom 
of the Mediterranean to that extent. Two great barriers 
of land would extend from Africa into Sicily and Italy, and 
enable the African mammalia to find their way into the re- 
gions north of the Mediterranean Sea. The shallowness of 
the sea at those two points indicates the existence of the 
sunken barriers, while the African elephant has been found 
only in the contiguous areas in Europe. Such a change as 
this would convert the Adriatic into dry land, and cause the 
islands of the Grrecian Archipelago to rise high above the sur- 
rounding plains. The five hundred fathom line is therefore 
taken to represent the probable sea margin of the Pleistocene 
age, although in centres of volcanic activity, such as Sicily 
and the Archipelago, local changes of level, even of greater 
magnitude, may have taken place. 
This view of the former physical condition of the Medi- 
terranean area, by which the present shores stood at a height i 
of about 3,000 feet above their present level, will go far to 'i 
explain the very remarkable evidences of glaciers met with j 
by Mr. Palgrave in Eastern Anatolia, and by Mr. Maw in i 
Morocco. 
In the central plateau of Asia Minor,* glacial action is strongly 
marked ; and especially in the valley through which the Chorok i [> 
flows, and in the mountainous country to the north-east, between 
Greorgia and the Black Sea. The river Chorok runs about 120 ‘ 1 
miles, in a north-easterly direction, and is separated from the , c 
Euxine by a high mountain chain, forming a long strip of land ! i . 
which is called Lazistan, after its inhabitants, a tribe of Lazes. i i i 
It then turns suddenly to the north, where it falls into the sea. !i > 
The southern side is determined by mountains of Cretaceous, • c 
Jurassic, and Plutonic rocks, which are the watershed between i > 
the tributaries of the Black Sea and Persian Grulf. Three large | f 
moraines are to be found on the southern side of the valley, j'* 
their lower extremity about 5,000 feet above the sea, their | < 
upper origin nearly 8,000 feet. No moraines are. seen where the j . 
chain does not reach an altitude of 7,000 feet, though angular 
boulders are not uncommon. The upper mountain contours 
* Vestiges of Glacial action in north-eastern Anatolia/’ by Gifford Pal- 
grave. Nature/’ October 31, 1872. 
