Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1902-01-10
SPRINGS IN THE SEA
FRESH WATER STREAMS THAT BURST
FROM THE OCEANS BED.

The Origin of the Underground Riv-
ers That Have an outlet Under the
Persian Gulf Has Never Been Salts
factorily Explained.
| Along the shallow bottom of the
ocean, not very far from the land, q
number of openings have been discov-
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-
er 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
rivers are perhaps most remarkably IL
lustrated near and on Bahren island,
in the Persian gulf, a 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 it is q
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
channels. In many places the water
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 El-Katif where similar
springs are found.
Arabs say that these streams come
straight from the Euphrates river
through an underground channel by
which the 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
| the rainfall sinks into the earth's crust
until it reaches impermeable rock
strata along which it is carried for a
great distance to the south out under
the sea until the rock, sloping upward,
| again brings 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
cient construction. The Adari we'll is
one of the great sights of Bahrein, be-
ing a deep basin of water % by 40
yards In size. The fact that it comes
from a 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
q slight admiXture of salt water 50
that the mixture is just little brack-
ish. At some of these openings at 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 ats that
brought them from the land. The
force of some of the streams as they
come from the earth Is so considerable
that it pushes back the salt water, and
the spring is not mixed with the sea
water for quite a 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 cnannei
into the Atlantic and mingle with the
sea through an opening in the bottom
that has been discovered a 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
continually rising to the surface. 1t
was evidently brought through the I'M
derground channel from the swamp.
The breaking Of cable off the mouth
of the Rovuma river In East Africa
has been attributed to the destructive
action Of a strong current Of sweet
water entering the sea level several
IL