50 
THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
scenes of ruin and devastation as are here present- 
ed, give rise to reflections, that seldom fail to im- 
press the observer with the might of the power 
of the elements and the comparative insignificant', 
of that of man. 
Gala Hein, a little bay situate between Comit . 
and Cominotto, is of special interest to the lover 
of nature. 
The scene, that is presented to the view Iron) 
the lofty summits of the cliffs of Comino, offers 
some charming contrasts; but it is not to be com 
pared with that which this little bay and it- sur- 
roundings afford. 
On a bright day its waters present an endless 
succession of the most brilliant colours, which 
commences with a deep blue, and from thence 
passes through every conceivable gradation of 
green, orange, and white after attaining the last of 
which it again graduates onward in the distance, 
to that cerulean blue, that is so characteristic of 
Mediterranean waters, 
Hor is the setting less effective than the picture. 
The rays of a tropical sun diffuse a silvery sheen, 
that hangs over the whole like a soft transparent 
drapery; while the countless reflections, from the 
wavelets that play in the path of every beam 
scintillate and sparkle, with a lustre, such as even 
the Kooh-i-nor — though it might equal— could 
never excel. 
The sombre looking entrances to tin- caverns, 
and the wildly fantastic shapes that many of them 
assume, form an appropriate contrast to the calm 
stilless and the rich colouring around, and by thus 
serving to heighten the effect oi the scene they 
seldom fail to create an impression such as can 
never be recalled without conjuring up a host of 
agreeable reminiscences. 
For the geologist, the sides of these caves are 
of unusual interest, as they literally teem with 
the remains of creatures that formerly lived and 
died in the waters in which the islands were built 
up. They form a sarcophagus of such antiquity 
that the most ancient of the Egyptian tombs is 
but of yesterday in comparison . 
In the islets on the opposite side, other caves 
occur: some, squat and irregular in their outline; 
others all that is graceful and symetrical. 
Caves, in whose wave-wasted sides broad 
platforms have been scooped out, and are now 7 
; filled vritli cool, crystal waters, that might almost 
serve as baths: — 
“Where-in sea-nymphs might lie 
With languid limbs, in summer’s sultry hours. ' 
And these wave-formed caves are typical of those 
that are, now in course of. formation all around 
the southern coasts of both islands. 
In the Lower Limestone they are, however, not 
quite so picturesque, though they appear to be 
much more solid and substantial. Here and there 
where the waves have enlarged a fissure or fault and 
have formed a small bay, the precise nature of the 
Lower Limestone cavern may be seen to advan- 
tage. They are generally found to lie in one of 
the softer veins of the rock, from which the inces- 
sant lashing of the sea, assisted by the chemical 
action of the air, has eroded the material of those 
portions, whose chemical composition and structure 
were the least suited to withstand the constant 
! and insidious attacks directed against them. The 
| material that has thus been worn from out the 
i cliff face strews the beach as boulders and pebbles, 
I the polished and fractured state of which serve as 
mute, though significant witnesses of the part that 
they too have occasionally played iu the work of 
destruction. 
The “Globigerina" cliffs around Sliema, and 
Tigne have been worn in a similar manner, but 
the caves found there are neither so large in size, 
nor so complicated in structure as are those that 
are found to occur in the superincumbent and the 
subjacent beds. The deposit is not well adapted 
for the formation of caverns, as it readily disin- 
tegrates and splits up. All around the shores of 
Ghar-id-dud, Marsa-Sirocco, and Mars-el-Forn 
numberless examples of the manner in which this 
has been done, are to be seen. 
At Ghar-id-dud, especially, there are at least 
six well marked examples of caves whose sides 
and roofs have collapsed under the strain to which 
they have been subjected after the excavating 
agents have reached a certain limit. 
(To be continued.) 
* Fo r a further description of the caves of this 
bay see. “Sketches in and about Malta ” price Is. 
Valletta, 1891, 
