CHAPTER XLV.
MURO TO LAVIANO OVER THE BOSCO CERRETA.
I left Muro to the south, taking the road to Laviano by a wild country on the north slopes of the little valley of the Maldo, and over the ridge of the Bosco Cerreta. Immense blocks of limestone lay half buried upon the deep clays in every direction, all pointing down the slopes. About three miles from the Taberna, the Rio de Santa Maffeo comes down from the recesses of Monte Carozzo, through the little gorge of Cataldo on the north, and presents a very remarkable debouchure upon the valley. Far away, and high above, in the gorge, I see lofty and frowning crags of limestone at both sides; but below, the advanced slopes and masses, are all rounded grey and yellow clays, and soft sandstones, in pretty level beds, presenting, by their outlines and enormous detritus, all the characters that the glacialist would attribute to ice; but the extreme softness of the rocks forbids this, and it is obviously due to ancient marine tidal action, and later, to pluvial scouring away, and constant slippage (Sketch No. 340), which together can simulate everything that ice can effect.
All about here, appears to be the geological boundary, of the yellow and grey soft sandstones, and of the soft, cre-
