26 
THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
Strewn along the sides of the escapments in a 
state of wild confusion, lie rock masses of every 
conceivable size and shape, all of which have at 
some previous time formed a part of the cliffs that 
now rise some hundreds of feet above them. 
The denuding agents of the atmosphere have 
contributed much towards this scene of destruction. 
Of these, frost, no doubt, played an important part 
during that period when the greater part of Europe 
was enveloped in a “mer dc glace,” and when 
arctic conditions of climate prevailed where tem- 
perate and even semitropical conditions now j 
exist. (1) 
But it is to wind and rain that the greatest 
amount of destruction seems to have been due. 
Their insidious attacks upon the sand and marl, 
that underlie the Upper Coralline Limestone, 
have wasted away these beds, and the upper 
deposits being thus undermined, have broken 
away in masses and have strewn the slopes with 
their debris. 
At Fom-ir-Rieh, Ghain-Toffiha and Karra ba 
there are several examples of areas consisting of 
many acres, that have broken off and have sunk to 
lower levels in consequence of the eroding action 
that the underground springs have had upon their 
unstable foundations. 
The south and south-western shores of Malta 
appear to have been more subject to these landslips 
than any other part of the two islands, a fact that is 
attributable to the south-westerly dip of the strata 
between Carmola and Fom-ir-rieh. The rocks in 
these localities have, therefore, a tendency to 
slide along their dip-planes, and hence, when 
their foundations are removed, even in part, 
fractures of considerable extent occur. 
How constant is the occurrence of these down- 
throws, is strikingly demonstrated by the Phoeni- 
cian cart-tracks, that are found in various locali 
ties along the southern shores. 
Many of these, after traversing the islands for 
some distance inland, trend towards the coast, and j 
there break off at the very edge of the cliffs. The 
folk-lore of the people contains many curious 
(1) Jones (Prof, Rupt.) “ On the Geology of 
Gibraltar.” Geo. Soc. Journ vol X XXI V. 1878. 
Geikie “ Prehistoric Europe? 
fables relating to them, (1) but all of the accounts 
that are given agree in referring their origin to a 
time when the islands constituted a portion of the 
neighbouring continents. 
That they are of very ancient origin, and that 
they serve to indicate some extensive changes in 
the configuration of the islands, there seems to be 
no doubt; but there does not appear to be any 
foundation for the statement that, at the time of 
their formation, the islands extended much 
beyond their present limits. 
The ruts that terminate so abruptly at the 
cliffs-edge, probably, once formed a portion of a 
roadway that skirted the top of the Tipper Coral- 
line Limestone cliffs, and these, after being sub- 
jected to those processes of erosion to which 
reference has just been made, broke away from 
the main mass of the formation, and thus oblite- 
rated all traces of the former roadway that had 
existed along their summits. 
The northern shores of both islands are much 
more indented than are those on the south. The 
succession of bays extending from Mars-el-Forn in 
Gozo, to Marsa Scala in Malta, and the elevations 
that lie between the bays, attest to the severe 
lateral pressure to which certain portions of the 
beds have been subjected. 
Whether this pressure has been due to a shrin- 
kage of the earth’s crust consequent on the secular 
cooling of the globe, or to changes in the position 
of the land masses in the vicinity, that have been 
brought about by volcanic or other agencies, we 
are not in a position to determine. The results, 
however, show that the general tendency of the 
pressure has been to elevated and depress the 
strata, to a greater or lesser degree, throughout 
the whole length of the islands. 
At Fom-ir-rieh, Karraba, St. Pauls Bay, the 
island of Comino, and Dueira these synclinal 
curves are especially marked, while in many 
other localities the strata have given way under 
the strain, and fissures and faults have been 
formed in consequence. 
The effect of many of the fractures has been to 
change the relative position of the strata to the 
extent of several hundreds of feet. 
(1) Cooke J. II. “Sketches in , and about Malta” 
Valletta 1891 , 
i VvIikllM 
