The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1897-06-28
n WONDERFUL HOLE.
Torrents OF Sea Water Have Conc Into 10
In Years Past.


One is reminded of the pretty fa-
bic about Arethusa and Alpheus by
a curious story in Casters Maga-
zine But in the ancient narrative
it was fresh water river into which
the pursuing lover was changed, and
the fountain which repres 1nts the
metamorphosed nymph has been
identified, while in the less romantic
tale now told salt water stream
disappears into hole in the ground,
and all the rest is a profound mys
terry.
On the coast of the Greek island
of Cephalonia, near the town of Ar
gostoh, there are two little fumes,
or canals, leading inland from the
sea to the distance of about 100 feet,
and then discharging their contents
into rudely excavated pits, through
whose badly fissured, rocky bot
toms the water Immediately loses
itself. At least as long ago as 1885
a mill was run by power from one
of these fumes, and n second mill
was built beside and operated by
the other a little while afterward.
The mills themselves are now in
ruins, but the flow continues. This
remarkable state of things has ex-
listed for over 60 years and very like
ly for a century.
One cannot help asking in amaze
ment where all that water, goes TO.
rT1ha MnccV.cy r1af i.-1,
account which Cassier's prints, esti-
mate that the flow in each channel
amounts to 1, 900 cubic feet per min
ute, or 5000, 900 cubic feet per day
in both. Two smaller passages of
a similar character have been OBJ
served in the same neighborhOod,
and it is added that along the shore,
at all points between the two mills
and for an unknown distance beyond
each, the water is everywhere perco-
lating through cracks and assures
of the limestone and sinking into
the earth. The openings in the sea
bottom are no doubt mainly closed
by weeds and gravel Yet no incon-
siderable amount of water must find
its way to these mysterious depths
through such an extent of beach,
lying ON q rock that Is practically as
porous as a sieve 1t Is difficult tC
decide which is the greater marvel,
the sea mills themselves or the fact
that they have remained practically
unkn own to the scientific world VI
to the present day, although de
scribed by several authors, men
toned in the guidebooks and visited
by admirals, generals, bishops and
distinguished civilians.
Almost the only explanation hith
erto offered assumes that evapora
ton goes on rapidly i'll some subter
ranean cavern and thus disposes OF
the water. But, as 1t Is admitted
that the remaining salt from the
two mill streams alone would
amount to IS, 600 cubic feet a year
it is hard to understand why the
y subterranean cavern-if there bC
4 one-does not fill up.
The Messrs. Crosby offer q differ
ent hypothesis. They ask the read
er to imagine two great assures de
scending into the earth and meeting
below, like the sides of a letterV OF
U. Then they suggest that perhap
one arm is shorter than the other
and that there is a long, very gently
rising passage leading from the bot
tom of one to the bottom of the 9th
er, so that the subterranean hea
can get good chance to act on any
stream passing through it. 1t the1
becomes easy to suppose that colo
current of sea water comes dow
through one branch of the system
and is forced upward through the
other by thermal influences.
The rocky island of Cephalonia
like some of its neighbors, betrays
the effect of earthquakes innumer
able in times past, abounding il
fractures and faults, caverns anC
subterranean rivers. None of the
springs on Cephalonia contain any
large quantity of salt, however, and
it is difficult to regard any of them
as the outflow of the food which
disappears at Argostoli. But it il
possible that, as Alpheus is said tc
have done, it takes a dive beneath
the sea and comes up on some farofi
island.