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of the coast. Cape St. Vincent, on the Atlantic coast, presents a 
bold line of cliffs to the sea, and bluff cliffs extend many miles 
towards the Straits ; but as soon as these are passed, a change 
of coast-form takes place, which must be noticeable to every 
observer. Cliffs on the sea-board become the exception, and 
the general line of the coast is merely a shelving under the 
sea of the general hill-and- valley system of the land, the sea 
running up all the depressions, and the land elevations spread- 
ing out into the sea with scarcely any abrupt cliff-line of 
demarcation. The uneven sea-bottom of the Straits seems to 
be a continuation of the contour of the adjacent land, consist- 
ing of rolling alternations of hill and valley, which must have 
received its conformation by sub-aerial agencies. 
“ Corsica, and the adjacent islands of Elba, Capraja, and 
Monte-Christo, are also remarkable for the absence of cliffs, 
and are wanting in those abrupt escarpments separating land 
and water which are so abundant on our own coasts. Their 
aspect is that of mountain-tops rising out of the sea, suggesting 
to the eye the seaward prolongation of their sub-aerial contour 
of sloping hill-sides and river-cut valleys, as though the sea 
had not stood sufficiently long at its present level to excavate 
an escarpment. The deep intersecting bays that occur along 
the coast from Marseilles to the Kiviera suggest the same con- 
clusion, the undulating land surface spreading down to the 
water’s edge, and the deep bays running up the intervening 
valleys which must have had an origin common with that of 
their landward prolongations.” 
It is impossible to shut our eyes to the full force of this 
admirable reasoning. The present aspect of the Mediterranean 
is, geologically speaking, a thing of yesterday. 
