It Was 15th February, And With A Native Guide And Interpreter Who Spoke Arabic, Which Was My Medium Of Dialogue,

I started to cross the mountain-range upon the east of the well-known five-knuckled-top named "Pentadactylon." At

The expense of repetition I cannot help extracting from my diary the exact words of description rough from the first impulse: "The base of this range is an extraordinary example of the action of rainfall in melting and washing down into conical mounds several hundred feet high, what was originally a high level of continuous but alternating strata of marls and alluvium that had descended from the higher mountains. These vast masses are in a chaotic confusion of separate heaps, which at a distance resemble volcanic cones. We rode up precipitous paths edging upon deep chasms between these conical hills, and emerged upon metamorphous rocks and shale mingled in curious irregularity. The strata of shale were in some instances nearly vertical, proving the disturbance that had been occasioned by a subsequent upheaval. About 200 feet above this formation we entered upon the dark grey jurassic limestone, and the soil became a rich red like that of South Devon. The rock scenery was very imposing as we increased our altitude and arrived upon plateaux of considerable extent. There can be no doubt that these natural terrace-like surfaces and various hollows accumulate the rainfall of a great area, and that some vast subterranean caverns in the limestone form natural reservoirs, which supply the celebrated springs of Kythrea throughout the year."

I believe these few words contain the real secret of the springs, which have been, and still are, considered to have a mysterious origin. Some people indulge in the theory that the water is forced by hydraulic pressure at the superior altitude of Caramania in Asia Minor, and passing by a subterranean conduit far beneath the bottom of the intervening channel, it ascends at the peculiar rock-mouth of Kythrea. This is simple nonsense, and can only be accepted by those who adore the unreal, instead of the guide, "common-sense." The actual volume of the outflow at Kythrea has never been calculated, although the problem is most simple; but a cursory examination is sufficient to explain the origin of the supply which a certain superficial mountain area collects and stores during the rainy seasons: to yield gradually through some small aperture or leak in a grand subterranean reservoir.

In all countries where water is scarce, unfailing springs are objects of veneration, and are clothed not only with undying verdure, but with a continuous growth of legends: from the day when Moses smote the rock in the wilderness, and the stream gushed forth to the thirsty Israelites, to the present hour, water, which is man's first necessity, will in drought-smitten countries be hailed with more than usual reverence. The devout Mussulman sinks a well and erects a fountain for the public good, and his friends bury his body in the neighbourhood of his last act.

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