Chalk Formation in England and France, though in Italy the Chalk itself is nowhere found. Thus, from the Lago Maggiore eastward, the great valley of the Po is skirted on the north by the two Limestone systems, with the Granite coming from beneath them. But westward, from the Lago Maggiore to the Maritime Alps, the Limestones disappear altogether, and the alluvial plain abuts upon the primæval Granite itself.

§ 8. The southern boundary of this great valley now remains to be examined. It is formed, as we have said, by the upper part of the Apennine range, which strikes nearly across Italy from above Genoa to the sources of the Rubicon and the Tiber. From beneath the southern edge of the alluvial plain first appears a band of the Tertiary rocks, which hardly show themselves on its northern edge. From below them again emerges in immense proportions the more Recent Limestone, which here

a Creta is not chalk, but a tenacious white earth, much the same as argilla.

covers the Jura formation, and forms the entire surface of that part of the Apennines. The Granite, unable to burst its way through, has contented itself with upheaving the superincumbent mass of Limestone, while the Tertiary strata have been broken up and almost swept away.

§ 9. In the vast sweeping hollow or basin embraced by the northern and southern elevation of the Limestone mountains, that is, in the space between the Alps and Apennines, lies the great alluvial plain formed by the atoms washed down through all time by the thousand streams which descend from the Alps upon the north and west, and from the Apennines on the south, all at length combining their waters in the mighty stream of the Eridanus. These waters, charged with particles of every kind of rock through which they flow, from the Granite to the Tertiary, form a soil hardly equalled in the world for natural richness. Near the mountains, indeed, where the streams

§ 10. We now turn to the leg of Italy, which consists of the lower range of Apennines, with its manifold branches and offshoots. Near the sources of the Rubicon and Tiber the more Recent Limestone has suffered a violent disruption, and falls off right and left, so as to display a huge mass of the Ancient Limestone. The two formations, the Ancient flanked on both sides by the more Recent, edged by narrow bands of Tertiary remains, continue their course flowing down the leg of Italy, gradually inclining towards the instep, till, at the point where the gulf of Tarentum threatens to penetrate to the Sicilian sea, the wild country of the Bruttii rises in primæval Granite.

e

§ 11. A line drawn from Ancona to Cape Argentaro gives the greatest breadth of these Limestone formations; and a little lower down, a fragment of the more Recent kind, left like an island upon the uplifted shoulders of the Ancient, presents the loftiest mountain of the Apennine range, Monte Corno or the Gran Sasso d'Italia, which attains an elevation of nearly 10,000 English feet. On the southern coast, from above the lake of Bolsena in Tuscany to the beautiful bay of Salerno, the regular geological series is broken up by a large tract of comparatively recent Volcanic country, which is interrupted between Latium and Campania by Ancient Limestone hills.

§ 12. On the northern flank of the Limestone range appears a belt of Tertiary formation, which spreads out wider, as the Limestone inclines towards the south, till it attains its greatest breadth along the western and northern sides of the gulf of Tarentum. But the Limestone formations, after sinking towards the Adriatic, again appear in the isolated eminence of Mount Garganus, the spur of Italy, and along the heel from Canusium to the Iapygian headland.

§ 13. This description of the physical structure of the Italian Peninsula will enable us to comprehend by a very brief glance its chief GEOGRAPHICAL features. Deep gulfs and inlets are not to be expected; for these are only found when mountainchains jut out into the sea, and maintain themselves as headlands, while the lower land between is eaten and washed away

e There is, however, one complete gap or severance in the chain, which is nearly marked by a line drawn from Capua to Venusia.

by the ceaseless action of the waves. Such phenomena are presented by Greece, and by the western coasts of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. But in Italy there is but one uniform mountain-chain. On the northern or Adriatic slope of the Apennines, indeed, a number of gorges open to the sea in a direction transverse to the main line of the mountains. But the projecting spurs which form these gorges are not considerable in height; and on the southern or Mediterranean side the main range sinks towards the sea in subordinate or secondary ranges, more or less parallel to the principal chain, and therefore seldom admitting of abrupt headlands with deep embrasures between. There is, however, one exception which proves the rule. We have above shown that at the foot of Italy, the Limestone range forks off into two great branches, one running towards the toe of the Peninsula, the other forming the heel. The softer Tertiary formations between these two ranges have fallen a prey to the devouring waves. Here they have scooped out the great gulf of Tarentum, a vast expanse of sea, measuring from point to point no less than 80 miles.

But except this great gulf, the coasts of the Peninsula are indented by comparatively gentle curves. On the northern side the single inequality is presented by the projecting mass of Mount Garganus, which forms with the lower coast what is now called the bay of Manfredonia. On the sole of the foot, below the gulf of Tarentum, we find the bay of Squillace (Sinus Scylacius). After passing the straits of Messina, first occurs the bay of St. Eufemia (Sinus Vibonensis), which is separated from that of Squillace by a mass of granitic rocks less than twenty miles in breadth. A little higher up we come to a wide sweep in the coast, known by the name of the bay of Policastro.

That part of the southern coast which is most irregular deserves particular attention from the student of Roman History. Between the point where ancient Lucania borders on Campania, and that at which Latium begins, a distance of about 120 miles, the coast-line is broken into three fine bays, the bay of Pæstum or Salerno on the south, the bay of Gaëta on the north, and between them the smallest but most famous and most beautiful of the three-the bay of Cuma or Naples.

From Cape Circello (Circeii), which forms the northern horn of the bay of Gaëta, the coast-line runs onward to Genoa, unbroken save by the headlands of Argentaro and Piombino in Tuscany. But these do not project far enough to form any recess worthy to be named. Nor is the little bay of Spezzia, just north of Tuscany, deserving of mention as a geographical feature.

§ 14. The same circumstance which prevents Italy from abounding in deep bays and bold headlands also prevents its coasts from being studded with ISLANDS, which are but relics of projecting mountain-chains. If we omit Sicily, which is in fact a continuation of the Peninsula separated by a channel of two or three miles broad, and the Lipari islands, which are due to the volcanic action still at work beneath Etna and Vesuvius, the islands of Italy are insignificant. Capreæ (Capri) on the one hand, Prochyta (Procida) and Ischia on the other, are but fragments of the two headlands that form the bay of Naples. Igilium (Giglio) and Ilva (Elba) stand in a similar relation to the headlands of Argentaro and Piombino. Besides these may be named Pontiæ (Ponza), Pandataria, with a few more barren rocks off the bay of Gaëta, and a few even less important on the coast of Tuscany.

§ 15. Except in Northern Italy, which abounds in noble RIVERS, as above described, the narrowness of the Peninsula forbids the existence of really large streams. Yet, the Apennine range, which forms on its southern side long parallel valleys, enables numerous torrents and rills which descend towards the south to swell into rivers of not inconsiderable size. Such especially are the Arno and Tiber, which rise nearly at the point where the ancient limestone breaks through the more modern. Their waters are separated by the hills which terminate in the headlands of Argentaro and Piombino, so that the Arno flows northward, and enters the sea on the northern frontier of Tuscany, after a course of about 120 miles; while the Tiber runs in a general southerly direction, receiving the waters of the Clanis from the west, and those of the Nar (Nera) and Velinus from the east, till its course is abruptly turned to the south-west by the Sabine limestone hills. The entire length of its channel is about 180 miles. These two well