THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
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The ca ve owes its origin to the chemical action of 
the carbonic acid gas, which is held in solution by 
the rain water, that percolates through the lime- 
stone roof. Pure water, when alone, has but little 
effect on lime; but in conjuncton with carbonic 
acid, it is peculiarly destructive. The rain that 
descends upon the hills of Malta and Gozo obtains 
a supply of this gas from two sources. It absorbs 
it, though in inappreciable quantities from the 
atmosphere; and, after its descent, it obtains it 
from the vegetable matter, with which the surface 
of the ground is covered. The humus, formed by 
decaying vegetable matter, evolves large quantities 
of this gas; and, as it is very soluble, it is readily 
seized upon and absoi bed by the water. In this par- 
ticular instance the overlying soil is thickly planted 
with cactus, and it is from the decomposition of 
this plant that the water obtains a large propor- 
tion of the gas, which afterwards enables it to do 
its work so effectively. 
By the action of this acid, the insoluble carbo- 
nate of lime, of which the limestone is largely 
composed, is converted into a soluble form, which 
is known to chemists as bi-carbonate, and in this 
form it is held in solution until the water evapo- 
rates, and redeposits it as an insoluble carbonate 
again. 
It is to this redeposition of lime that the forma- 
tion of these beautiful though fantastic columns, 
is due. 
Facing the Banda valley, on the eastern side of 
the same hill, there is an example of another ca- 
vern, that had a somewhat similar origin; but, 
which cannot be compared with “Ta-Ninu” either 
in its form and dimensions, or the beauty of its 
contents. It shares, with another cave at Melleha, 
the honour of being supposed to be the traditional 
grotto, in which the goldess Calypso held her 
court, and carried on her amours with Telema- 
chus. 
The spot has been immortalised alike by Fenelon 
in his work “A ventures de Telemaque,” and by 
Homer in the fifth book of the Iliad, where the 
great poet thus describes it: — 
“Large was the grot in which the nymph he found, 
The fair haired nymph with every beauty crowned, 
She sat and sung: the rocks resound her lays; 
The cave was brightened with a rising blaze; 
Cedar arid frankincense, an odorous pile, 
Flam’d on the hearth, and wide perfumed the isle; 
While she, with work and song the time divides, 
And through the loom the golden shutter guides. 
Without the grot, a various sylvan scene 
Appear’d around, and groves of living green; 
Poplars and alders ever quivering play’d, 
And nodding cypress form’d a fragrant shade 
On whose high branches, waving with the sA-rm, 
The birds of broadest wing their mansion form; 
The chough, the sea-mew, the loquacious crow, 
And scream aloft, and skim the deeps below. 
Depending vines the shelving caverns screen, 
With purple clusters blushing through the green. 
Four limpid fountains from the cliffs distil. 
And every fountain pours a several rill, 
In mazy windings wandering down the hill: 
Where blooming meads with vivid greens were 
crowned, 
And glowing violets spread their odours round; 
A scene, where, if a god should cast his sight, 
A god might gaze, and wonder with delight.” 
But where are now the “groves of poplars, and 
of alders”, the “limpid fountains and the mazy 
windings”! 
But for the commanding view of the island, 
that is to be obtained in its vicinity, the toilsome 
walk, that has to be undertaken to reach the place, 
would certainly not be repaid by the amount of 
pleasure, that a sight of this commonplace rock 
excavation would afford. The stern reality is 
rendered even more disappointing on account of 
the description in which the poet has immortal- 
ised. it, and the historical halo in which he has 
enshrined it. 
(To be continued.) 
The Syrian Greyhound. 
J. E. Hakting. 
The Syrian Greyhound is a very beautiful spec! 
men of the race: smaller, and with less length of 
limb than the English Greyhound, and conse- 
quently with a shorter stride, the rapidity of his 
movements and the toughness and tenacity of his 
muscles, render him no unworthy scion of the stock 
to which his British cousin belongs. 
