144 I N T E R M I T T I N G S P R I N G .
its commencement. It not unfrequently
liappens, that, persons who visit the place,
wait for some hours, and return without
witnessing the flowing of the spring, the period
of intermission being very irregular.
The spring issues near the foot of the
mountain, just at its junction with the elevated
plain I have before mentioned. The
natural basin into which it flows has an irregular
stony bottom, and will only permanently
retain water to a certain height, but
when the spring flows it fills faster than the
waters are carried off, and the water rises
several feet, overflowing at the surface.
Just before the first flowing of the spring
I heard a deep rolling sound, like that of
distant thunder,but as there were only some
remote clouds in the horizon, I am satisfied
it came from the fountain. There is always,
I believe, an internal gurgling heard in the
mountain, immediately before the water
begins to flow. In rainy seasons the spring
flows repeatedly in the course of an hour,
at other times it flows only once or twice
in the course of the day.
That the water in ebbing springs acts on
the principle of the syphon, in that well
known philosophical toy called Tantalus’
I N T E R M I T T I N G S P R I N G ,
cup, was formerly generally believed.
Some modern writers have recently attempted
to controvert this opinion. Here,
however, the stratification and structure of
the mountain, present one of the simplest
cases that can possibly be imagined, of a
natural syphon formed in the interstices of
the strata-seams ; for let us suppose the
annexed cut to represent a section of the
mountain, with the strata-seams dipping at
a very acute angle.