432 
CHAP. 
XI. 
' " > — ; 
Geological 
Pheno- 
mena. 
VOYAGE FROM INEADA, 
their history ; but to ascertain, if possible, by 
the geological phaenomena of the coast, the 
nature of a revolution, which opened the re- 
markable channel, at whose mouth those islands 
are situate. 
For some time before we reached the entrance 
to the Canal, steering close along its European 
side, we observed in the cliffs and hills, even 
to their summits, a remarkable aggregate of 
heterogeneous stony substances, rounded by 
attrition in water, imbedded in a hard natural 
cement, yet differing from the usual appearance 
of breccia rocks ; for, upon a nearer examination, 
the whole mass appears to have undergone, 
first, a violent action of fire, and secondly, 
that degree of friction in water, to which their 
form must be ascribed. Breccia rocks do not 
commonly consist of substances so modified. 
The stratum formed by this singular aggregate, 
and the parts composing it, exhibited, by the 
circumstances of their position, a striking proof 
of the power of an inundation ; having dragged 
along with it the constituent parts of the mix- 
ture, over all the heights above the present 
level of the Black Sea, and deposited them 
in such a manner as to leave no doubt but 
that a torrent had there passed towards 
the Sea of Marmora . All the strata of the 
