The Mediterranean is unique among the waters of the globe. No other sea is comparable to it in historic interest. Its situation also is unrivaled. Three continents join hands and compass it, as if to make of it a lake; but when the circuit seems about to be completed, two of them halt abruptly at the Pillars of Hercules, and let its current sweep between them into the Atlantic. The contiguity of widely different countries, bordering on this easy medium of communication, soon made the Mediterranean a cradle of commerce, around which Europe, Africa, and Asia stood as sponsors. Hence it became inevitably the centre of civilization. Of what existed at a little distance from the murmur of its surf and shimmer of its waves the ancient world knew next to nothing. Phenicians, Jews, Egyptians, Carthaginians, Greeks, and Romans gemmed its shores with cities, and encircled them with colonies; but until Caesar's legions mastered Gaul, and pushed on farther to the north and east, the countries lying only a few hundred miles away from this central sea were little more than lands of fable. In the affections of Occidental nations the Mediterranean, of all oceans, holds the foremost place. Without it human history would be for them almost a blank. It furnishes a background essential for a comprehension of all that has come down to us of social, intellectual, and spiritual struggles and achievements. In the long chain of coast line which encloses it, there is no link that is not bright with memories of a mighty past. Here architecture rose, and still endures in structures that astound the world. Here art was born, and gave to wondering posterity a standard it has never since attained. Here laws were framed which still invite the obedience of mankind. Around it also gradually grew, to sway the souls of millions, some of the oldest and most powerful religions of the race - the solemn mysteries of Isis and Osiris, the poetry of the Greek mythology, and the three kindred faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Upon the shores surrounding it, as on the benches of a natural colosseum, sat all the classic nations of antiquity, spectators or participants in the drama acted here for two millenniums. Each in its turn descended into this magnificent arena, to strive for glory or supremacy, and all eventually yielded to one mighty empire, destined itself to disappear at last, like those which it had conquered.

Mediterranean Coast, Near Sidon.

Ruins Of Carthage.

Even to-day, although the splendor and importance of the Mediterranean have largely vanished, it still exerts a marvelous influence on the memory and imagination of mankind. All civilized nations look upon it as a sacred spot, and thousands annually come as pilgrims to its shores, to see in fancy, imaged in its shining depths, momentous scenes, the closely linked effects of which have made them what they are. For, happily, the Mediterranean is not too large to be both pictured by the imagination and retained in the affections. Unlike the enormous areas of the Atlantic and Pacific, which touch innumerable lands and heterogeneous peoples, it is sufficiently compact to be minutely studied and explored; while it is also loved, not only for what it has been, but for what it is. Still are its waves as exquisitely green and blue as when Phenician galleys furrowed them, and Trojan exiles sailed for the Lavinian shores.

In The Time Of Phidias.

Still are the mountains which environ it as grand, clear-cut, and awe-inspiring as when the court of Zeus assembled on Olympus; when Atlas bore the burden of the sky above the Gardens of Hesperides; or when the writhings of Enceladus caused Etna to pour forth its floods of fire. Nor are the islands scattered over its surface naturally less attractive now than when, upon the shore of Naxos, Ariadne mourned the vanished Theseus; or Scio gave to life and immortality the author of the "Iliad"; or Melos lifted toward the sky the statue now enshrined within the Louvre - sublime memorial of the goddess born from the white foam which still encircles Cyprus in its soft embrace. Of all the islands that add interest and beauty to this classic sea, one of the most remarkable is Malta. This statement needs, however, to be amplified, for "Malta" is not solitary, as the title would imply. To be accurate, one should speak of the "Maltese Islands," since there are three of them, - Malta, Gozo, and Comino, the last-named lying midway in the narrow channel which divides the other two. If the Mediterranean were drained of its water, it would present the appearance of two basins, separated from each other by a ridge of land extending from the south of Italy to the north of Africa. Three points in this long ridge emerge above the surface of the sea.