ELEVATIONS OF CAVES. 



195 



An attempt was made to determine the relation of the water in the various caves 

 to a general level of groundwater and to ocean-level. An aneroid barometer was 

 used for this purpose, but although it was of latest pattern and its vernier read to 

 i foot, I am afraid that the readings are approximations only, because allowance 

 for barometric changes could not readily be made. 



Barometer readings along the line of the Western Railroad compared with the 

 elevations determined by the engineers of the line may give us an approximation to 

 the dependence that may be placed on the respective readings. 



1 Accepted engineer's determination. 



The engineer of the United Havana railroads furnished the following eleva- 

 tions of stations in the cave region. The elevations given are above the Villa 

 Nueva station at Havana, not above sea-level. As the line crosses the Western 

 Railroad at Rincon and the elevation of its rails above sea-level at Rincon is 

 252.13 feet, I estimate Villa Nueva to be 23 feet above sea-level. 



At Cartas there is a well in the yard of a store about 100 yards from the railroad 

 station. On August 26, 1903, the surface of the water in this well stood very near 

 sea-level, i. e., exactly 100 feet below the surface of the ground. 



Mr. A. P. Livesey, general manager of the Western Railroad, kindly furnished 

 me with the depths of 3 wells. 1 Tabulating these and the depths obtained in the 



'He wrote: " Regarding the depths of wells along our line, I may say that these vary very considerably, not 

 only in the different localities, but also during the two seasons, viz., wet and dry, but for your information and 

 guidance I give below the average depths of 3 of our company's wells, which are used to obtain water for our 

 locomotives. They are as follows: Salud, 100 feet; Guira, 50 feet; Artemisa, 80 feet." 



