"
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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