THE M EDI TER 11 USE AN NATURALIST 
49 
The Malta caves ma}' be classed under two 
heads; those that have been formed by the mecha- 
nical erosion of the sea, assisted by the chemical 
processes of the atmosphere; and those that owe 
their origin to the percolation of rainwater satu 
rated with carbonic acid, through the fissures that 
have been formed in the island’s strata. 
Examples of the former occur all around the 
coast lines of the islands, but they may be stu- 
died to the best advantage whereever the Upper 
Coralline Limestone appears at the sea-level along 
the coast. The romantic scenery of the western 
coast of Comino owes its origin to these causes. 
There, the whole of the deposits that underly the 
Upper Coralline Limestone have been submerged, 
leaving this bed as the sole representative of the 
area that once united Malta and Gozo. 
Lmlike the northern and southern shores, those 
of the east and the west present to the Mediterra- 
nean waters a succession of precipitous cliffs and 
weather beaten headlands, that attain a height 
varying from 100 to 180 ft. Compared with the 
cliffs on the south coast of Malta, they may appear 
somewhat insignificant; but their want of altitude 
is fully compensated for, by the wildness of their 
contour, and the picturesque groupings of the 
detached masses that lie among their bases. All 
of the energies of the devastating forces of nature 
have been concentrated on the work of destruction, 
and have left behind indelible records of the ter- 
rible rigour of their attacks. Rock masses have 
been torn away, and hurled to incredible distances, 
thus forming a series of sunken reefs, and fan- 
tastically shaped islets, which, in tempestuous 
weather, are $t once the refuge of the myriads of 
gulls and rock pigeons, that have there fashioned 
a home, and the dread of the fishermen, who gain 
a scanty livelihood, by toiling in the surrounding 
waters. The mural cliffs of many of these islets 
tower to a height, that is but little less than that 
of the cliffs of the formation of which they once 
formed a part; but, while possessing all the 
majesty of proportion of the parent bed, they have 
also a rugged beauty so entirely their own, that it 
constitutes a feature in the sea scape, which by 
the contrast, tends to bring other not less remark- 
able features quite into a position of subordi- 
nation. 
It is to the north-cast wind, that these disastrous 
effects among the cliffs and precipices of the islands 
are to be attributed; This wind blows, during 
the winter time, with unremitting fury for many 
days together: and one has but to watch the huge 
breakers, that are then raised, and hurled with 
resistless violence agai ast the shores of the isles, 
to be able to form a good idea of the magnitude of 
their power, and of the amount of destruction that 
they are capable of effecting. The atmosphere 
takes no mean part in these operations; but its 
efforts are chiefly confined to the softening down 
of the angularities which the constant fractures 
in the strata, have given rise to. But extensive as 
is the amount of work for which it is responsible, 
its effects can in no way, be compared with those 
wrought by the action of the sea waves Even the 
least observant, in the course of a ramble around 
Comino’s shores, cannot but be forcibly impressed 
with the truth of tills assertion. 
Whenever the waves have been unsuccessful in 
their attempts at destruction with one set of oper- 
ations, they have fallen back upon their exhaust- 
less resources, and have utilised another set. 
Where sheer force has failed, they have employed 
more insidious methods to attain their end; and 
thus, masses, vTiose bulk, and weight have enabled 
them to successfully withstand the tempests of 
centuries, have yet been compelled to yield to the 
silent working of those less ostentatious, though 
not Jess formidable enemies, which, with never 
tiring zeal, have perforated them through and 
i through, thus forming caverns and archways of in- 
tricate forms and of majestic proportions. But 
nature, like a fitful child, that clashes to the ground 
the card-house, which it has taken so much time 
and patience to build up, does not long remain con- 
tent with the work upon which she has spent her 
energies in the fashioning. She creates, but to 
destroy; and works as energetically in the work 
of destruction, as she does in the work of fabri- 
cation. 
The mazy windings of the cliffs, crags, stacks, 
caverns, archways, and buttresses that abound 
along the coastlines of the islets afford indubitable 
proofs of her destructive effects; and after the 
monotonous aspect of the surface of the adjacent 
island of Comino, with the sterility of its scanty 
soil and the solitude of its deserted slopes, such 
