Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1901-11-01
SPRINGS IN THE SEA
FRESH WATER STREAMS THAT BURST
FROM TIE OCEANS BED.

The Origin of the Underground Rive
ers That Have nn outlet Under tho
Persinn Gulf Has Never Been satis-
factorily Explained.
Along the shallow bottom of the
ocean, not very far from the land, a
number Of openings have been dlscov-
cred in various parts Of the world
through which water as pure and fresh
as that of any bubbling spring mingles
with the salt water Of the sea. Anoth-
err remarkable class of fresh water
springs is those that sink out Of sight
or perhaps never come to the surface,
but follow hidden channels under the
land and under the sea until they final
ly come to the open air on an island.
Both Of these types Of underground
Illustrated near and on Bahrein island,
In the Persian gulf, place that is also
noted as one Of the chief sources Of
pearls.
Bahrein island, the largest of the
group of islands bearing that name, is
about twenty miles off the coast of
Arabia in the Persian gulf. AS the is
land has almost no rainfall 1t is a
dead level Of sandy desert relieved only
by palm groves and patches of vegeta-
ton where water springs to the sur
face from the mysterious underground
oh nnvc ,,lna hn xynf tor
does not reach the surface, but Is found
by sinking wells, the water being rails
ed to the surface by donkeys and bull
locks and poured into the channels
from which the date palms and other
crops are irrigated. These springs can
not possibly be derived from the island,
and it is no more likely that they come
from the sandy wastes of neighboring
Arabia The Arabian shore as far as
can BE- seen is low and devoid of water
except at ElKatif where similar
springs are found.
Arabs say that these streams come
straight from the Euphrates river
through an underground channel by
WHICH tbs great river, in part, flows be
meath the Persian gulf. Biologists,
however, have dismissed this theory.
Though the origin Of the springs has
not yet been satisfactorily explained,
the most favored theory Is that they
come from the well watered slopes Of
the Persian mountains far to the north.
If this theory is correct, it means that
fol e,iv, into J,n NTH 1St
until it reaches impermeable rock
strata along which it Is carried for
great distance to the south out under
the sea until the rock, slOping upward,
again bringx the water near the sur
face on Bahrein island. Some of the
wells that are thus supplied are enor-
nous, and one of them, the Adari,
serves for the irrigation Of many miles
of date palms through a canal of an
Gent construction. The Adari we'll il
one of the great sights of Bahrein, be-
ing deep basin of water % by 40
yards in size. The fact that 1t comes
from far higher source is shown by
the force with which it enters the well.
Divers, driven back by the strong cur
rent, are unable to reach the bottom.
There being no wells within miles of
some of the coast towns of Bahrein,
they obtain water from springs that
issue from the bottom of the gulf not
far from the shore. These springs of
course have the same origin as the
wells. Divers. with goatskins under
their arms. dive through the salt water
and fill the skins with the cold fresh
liquid at the bottom. The water OBJ
tanned in this way usually contains
a slight admiXture of salt water, so
that the mixture is just little bruck-
ish. AT some of these openings ut the
sea bottom the head of water entering
the sea is so strong that when hollow
bamboos are pushed down into it the
water rises through the tubes, deliver
ing the fresh water directly into YES
sells that are held by men and women
who are sitting in the boats that
brought them from the land. The
force of some of the streams as they
that it pushes back the salt water and
the spring is not mixed with the sea
water for quite space around the
place of entrance.
1t has been practically determined
within the past few years that the wa.
tiers of small river in West Africa
which disappeared in a fresh water
swamp that has no visible outlet find
their way by an underground channel
into the Atlantic and mingle with the
sea through an opening in the bottom
that has been discovered few miles
from Cape Verde. A channel has been
found on the sea floor which. appar-
emily, was cut by some fresh water
stream. During some soundings that
were made in 1895 for the purpose Of
finding and raising broken cable the
vessel engaged in the work was sur
rounded by swamp vegetation that was
rising to the surface. 1t
was evidently brought through the I'M
derground channel from the swamp.
The breaking Of a cable off the mouth
Of the Rovuma river In East Africa
has been attributed to the destructive