316 
THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
most carefully watched for any signs of the former 
existence of man in the caves and fissures of the 
islands. 
But the results of the work of all, in this 
direction, were equivocal and unsatisfactory. 
“On one occasion, ’’Adams tells us, “when engaged 
digging in the gap (Benhisa) among the red soil 
and water worn blocks with my friend Capt. 
Swann, and we were removing a portion of an 
elephant’s thigh-bone from between the firmly 
impacted stones, there appeared among the debris 
a triangular and awl pointed fragment of the cal- 
careous sandstone (Globigerina limestone) thickly 
encrusted with stalagmite, which, when removed, 
displayed a flat, even surface gradually tapering at 
one end to a curved point, — such a tool as might 
have been useful to a primitive race in making 
holes; but as it bore no traces of chipping, and 
assimilated closely to many other waterworn 
stones in the gap, I finally rejected it.” (1) 
A doubtful discovery was also made in one of 
the suburbs of Valletta, a brief account of which 
is given in Dr. Davy’s “Observations on Malta” (2) 
in which he says “At Casal Pietk, close to the 
city of Valletta, there has been recently discovered 
a remarkable funnel-shaped cavity in the side of a 
hill, (3) partially filled up with clay, in which were 
were found embedded a portion of a bone 
probabty of the radius of a ruminant, probably of 
a goat, accompanied with masses of chalk and 
water-worn stones, and a hard stone, the form and 
appearance of which clearly indicated that it had 
been fashioned by the hand of man.”' 
Mr. Frere F. R. S., addressed a latter to Davy 
on the subject in which he described the supposed 
implement as being, “ a piece of hard and very 
heavy stone, about four inches in length and two 
and a half in width ; it was irregularly fractured 
at the back and at the edges, but on the other 
and larger side reduced to what may be called a 
(1 ) Adams A. L. “Nile Valley and Malta ” 1S70. 
p. 195. 
(2) Davy. “Observations on Malta ” Vol.l.p.ll 1. 
( 3 ) This cavity is located in the garden of Villa 
Frere. It was cleared out to a. depth of 01 feet by 
Mr. Frere', but has since been half filled in with 
rubbish. 
smooth surface, that is to say smooth, with the 
exception of the traces of the instrument which 
had been employed for the purpose of giving it 
an even surface. 
These traces are very distinctly observable upon 
it. This stone like many others which were found 
embedded in the same clay, was covered with a 
black fuliginous varnish, a mark of authenticity, 
which if I had had any suspicion of the good faith 
of the workmen, would have been sufficient to 
remove it. ” 
The specimen was afterwards un: rtunately lost. 
In 1865 Prof. A. Issel (1) visited the Har Dalam 
cavern, Malta, and at a depth of two feet from the 
surface he discovered several hones of mammals 
that had been subjected to the influence of lire, 
the ashes of which were still in situ, together with 
fragments of a coarse kind of pottery. 
He thus describes the results o. his visit, “Pra- 
ticato uno scavo di 60 centimetri di profondita nel 
terreno della caverna, alia distanza di un centinaio 
di passi dalla apertura, si trovarouo ossami di 
mammiferi che avevano subito certamente 1'azie e 
del fuoco e con essi residui di carbone. Due di 
queste ossa sono il prirao ed il terzo osso di un 
metatarso destro d ippopotamo. Le altre appar- 
tengono a piccoli erbivori, probabilmente ad una 
specie di Oris, e sono omen, metacarpani. meta- 
tarsiani, ecc. in gran parte spaccati per estrarre il 
midollo. 
Tutte le ossa, non escluse quelle d'ippopotamo, 
portano traccie evident! di cottura. Dcsse erano 
accompagnate nel terriceio della grotta, oltrechh 
da residui di carbone e ceneri, anche da cocci di 
stoviglie grossolane, fra le quali merita speeiale 
menzirne un gross© frammento d’ anfora, ornato di 
fregio a graffito, in :ic-zac , non dissimile da quelli 
che si osservano su certi rasi provenieute dalie 
palafitte della Svizzera e del Piemonte.” 
Such were the only evidences, meagre and 
doubtful as they are, of the occupation ot the Mal- 
tese Islands by prehistoric man that had been col- 
lected prior to the work which I did in the Har 
Dalam cave in the spring of 1802. 
(1) Issel A. “Note sur une caverne a ossevunst 
d’ilc de Malte ” Materaux pour I’istoirede I'homme 
Janv. I860. 
