The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1886-08-09
CHE 4ailn Salletin.
MONDAY, AUGUST 8, 1886.
ANCIENT TUNNELS.

IL NOu ltuNS Wlbh lNoBiSo w
carriage (although we might go by
steam train narrow gauge railroad),
we Immediately go through a tun-
mel three-quarters of a mile long,
cut through mountain 800 feet
high. This tunnel is driven through
a volcanic rock called tufa, which is
about as hard as the Indiana "free-
stone" found in the vicinity of the
bluffs of White River near Waiver
ley. When was this tunnel (Which
forms the highway for the whole
country west of Naples) cut through
the mountain of Posilippo? The
answer to this inquiry will be inter-
esting to all engineers, and is worthy
q place in your railroad "column,"
which keeps us posted up in the
railway traffic and in the diamond
paned, nickle-plated "Union Depot"
This tunnel Of Posilippo, as it now
exists, was cut through only twenty
seven years before Christ, and there
fore, has the juvenile age of 1913
years, or is l,5l9 years older than
the discovery of America by Chris
topher Columbus. Augustus Caesars
great Minister of Public Works,
Marcus Agrippa, made the present
tunnel-or he may have enlarged it
from a smaller one that answered
the commercial communication and
necessities of the DAYS before the
empire. This tunnel is to-day, as l
said, the great highway to the heart
of Naples, as it has been for more
than 300 years. The great Appian
way ran to the Capua, within thirty
miles of Puteoli, thence this mag
nificent Roman highroad, under the
name of the Consular way, was
continued to Puteoli, and then the
Consular way pushed on through
Neapolis (Naples), Herculaneum,
Pompeii, Staple, Nucera, Sarenum,
Paestum down to Rheuim. This
tunnel of Posilippo was formerly
called the grotto or tunnel of Pute-
oil. The ancients worked in this
manner, viz: they began their per-
forations at each end, and also from
above in two places equidistant
from the termini of the tunnel. The
guide books, both Murray and
Baedekar, will tell you the perfora-
tions or shafts from above were
made by Alfonso 1. in the fifteenth
century, which is altogether wrong.
No less than four tunnels of Roman
construction existed in the vicinity
of Naples, and they, all Of them,
even the latest, rediscovered and
opened in 1912, have shafts from
above.
The Romans were great road, tun-
mel and bridge builders, and we
have never yet given their engineers
half the credit which we should for
their great science and skill. No
where, not even in the City of
Rome, or on the Roman Campagna,
are there so many evidences of their
engineering skill as are to be found
in the vicinity of Naples. A young
architect from London, with whom 1
have recently gone over these classic
scenes, has been perfectly astonished
at the engineering abilities displayed
by the Romans in their public and
private works near Naples. 1 have
been glad to see that at the recent
meeting of the British Association OF
Science, held at Aberdeen, Scotland,
B. Baker, an eminent British civil
engineer, read paper recalling
certain engineering feats of the an.
clients. AS there are many engineers
and others who are readers of the
"Journal," l think it will interest
them for me to quote one portion Of
Mr.. Bakers paper. Mr.. Baker
says: III have no doubt that as able
and enterprising engineers existed
prior to the age of steam and stee
as now exist, and their work was as
beneficial to mankind, though differ.
ent in direction. In the important
matter of water supply to towns,
Indeed, l doubt whether, having
reference to facility of execution
even greater works were not done
1900 years ago than now. Hero
dotus speaks of tunnel eight feet
square and nearly a mile long
driven through mountain in ordel
to supply the city of Samos will
water, and his statement, though
long doubted, was verified In 1882
through the abbot Of a neighborin,
cloister accidentally unearthing som
stone slabs. The German Archao
logical Society sent out Ernst Fab
ricious to make complete surve
of the work, and the record read
like that of modern engineering
undertaking. Thus from a covere
reservoir in the hills proceeded Al
arched conduit about 1000 yard
long, partly driven as a tunnel an
partly executed on the cut an
cover system adopted on the Lon
don underground railway. TIL
tunnel proper, more than ITO
yards in length, was hewn by ham
mer and chisel through the soil
limestone rock. 1t was driven frol
the two ends like the great Alpin
tunnels, without intermediate shaft!
and the engineers of 2,4OO year
ago might we'll be congratulated fl
getting only some dozen feet ont Z