540 
INCIDENTAL EFFECTS OF HUMAN ACTION. 
originate from the stranding of a ship with a cargo of iron,* or. 
from throwing the waste of an establishment for working met¬ 
als into running water which might carry it to the sea. 
Partliey records a singular instance of unforeseen mischief 
from an interference with the arrangements of nature. A land- 
owner at Malta possessed a rocky plateau sloping gradually 
toward the sea, and terminating in a precipice forty or fifty 
feet high, through natural openings in which the sea water 
flowed into a large cave under the rock. The proprietor at¬ 
tempted to establish salt works on the surface, and cut shallow 
pools in the rock for the evaporation of the water. In order 
to fill the salt pans more readily, he sank a well down to the 
cave beneath, through which he drew up water by a windlass 
and buckets. The speculation proved a failure, because the 
water filtered through the porous bottom of the pans, leaving 
little salt behind. Put this was a small evil, compared with 
other destructive consequences that followed. When the sea 
was driven into the cave by violent west or northwest winds, 
it shot a jet dean through the well to the height of sixty feet, 
the spray of which was scattered far and wide over the neigh¬ 
boring gardens and blasted the crops. The well was now 
closed with stones, but the next winter’s storms hurled them 
out again, and spread the salt spray over the grounds in the 
vicinity as before. Repeated attempts were made to stop the 
orifice, but at the time of Parthey’s visit the sea had thrice 
burst through, and it was feared that the evil was without 
remedy, f 
I have mentioned the great exent of the heaps of oyster 
and other shells left by the American Indians on the Atlantic 
coast of the United States. Some of the Danish kitchen- 
middens, which closely resemble them, are a thousand feet 
long, from one hundred and fifty to two hundred wide, and 
from six to ten high. These piles have an importance as geo¬ 
logical witnesses, independent of their bearing upon human 
* Kohl, Schleswig-Holstein , ii, p. 45. 
t Wandenmgen (Lurch Sicilien und die Lee ante, i, p. 406. 
