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.
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