Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1897-05-08
A WONDERFUL HOLE.
Torrents of Sea Water Have Gone
Into Ii in Years Past,

Into Ii in Years Past,
On the coast of the Greek island of
Cephalonia, near the town of Argostoli,
there are two little fumes, or canals,
leading inland from the sea to the dis.
lance of about 100 feet, and then dis.
charging their contents into rudely eX-
cavated pits, through whose badly fls.
sured, rocky bottoms the water i'm.
lnediately loses itself. At least as long
ago as 1885 Il mill was run by power
from one of these fumes; and a second
mill was built beside and operated by
the other Il little while aftcrward. The
mills themselves are now in ruins, but
the flow continues. This remarkable
state of things has existed for over &C
years, and very likely for a century.
One cannot help asking in amaze
ment where all that water goes TO. The
Messrs. Crosby, who Ilrnish the account
estimate that the flow in each channel
amounts to 1000 cubic feet per minute,
or 10000 cubic feet per day in both
Two smaller passages of a similar char
ncter have been observed in the same
neighborhood; and it is added that
along the shore, "at all points between
the two mills, and for an unknown dis.
lance beyond each, the water is every.
where pcrcolating 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 inconsidera-
bic amount of water must find its way
to these mysterious depths through
such an extent of beach, lying on a rock
that is practically as porous as a sieve,
y y v 1t is difficult to decide which is
the greatest marvel, the sea mills them
selves or the fact that they have re-
NAMED practically unknown to the
scientific world up TO the present day,
although described by several authors,
mentioned in the guide books and Wis
tied by 'admirnls, generals, bishops and
distinguished civilians"
Almost the only explanation hitherto
offered assumes that evaporation goes
on rapidly in some subterranean cav.
ern, and thus disposes of the water.
But as it is admitted that the remaining
salt from the two mill streams alone
would amount to 4S,G00 feet a
year, it is hard to understand why
the subtcrranean cavern Gf there be
one)does not fill up. The Messrs. Cros.
by offer a different hypothesis. They
ask the readers to imagine two great
assures descending into the earth and
meeting below, like the sides of a letter
V or U. Then they suggest that per.
haps one arm is shorter than the other,
and that there is a long, very gently
rising passage leading from the bot
tom of the one to the bottom of the
other, so that the subterranean heat can
get a good chance to act on any stream
passing through it. 1t then becomes
easy to suppose that a cold current of
sea water comes down through one
branch of the system and forces upward
through the other by thermal inhu-
ences.
The rocky island of Cephalonia, like
some of its neighbors, betrays the effect
of earthquakes innumerable in times
past, Astounding in fractures and faults,
caverns and subterranean rivers. None
OF the springs on C%ephalonia contain any
large quantity of salt, however, and it
is difficult to regard any of them as the
outflow of the flood which disappears
at Argostoli. But it is possible that, as
Alpheus is said to have done, it takes
a dive beneath the sea and comes up on
some far-off island.-Cassier's Maya
zine.