and Spouting Fountains. 219 



a uniform direction, throughout a length of 1455 feet. The 

 superstition of the Indians has not allowed any one to advance 

 further than 2400 feet from the entrance. Along the whole of 

 this extent a river of 30 feet broad may be traced finding a 

 channel in its floor. 



The cavern of Adelsberg, in Carniola, into which the river 

 PoicTc engulfs itself, and in which the water appears and dis- 

 appears a great many times, has been already traced by the cu- 

 rious throughout an extent of six miles. A large lake, which 

 can be only crossed in a boat, has hitherto prevented its being 

 farther explored. If we ai'e to believe the accounts of later tra- 

 vellers, many of the numerous compartments of which this ca- 

 vern is composed, in length, breadth, and height, exceed the 

 largest cathedrals. 



The gypseous formations likewise, present a series of grottoes, 

 connected by passages more or less strait, and which sometimes 

 extend to a prodigious size. In Saxony, the grotto of Wimal- 

 borg communicates with the cavern of Cresfeld, which extends 

 to the length of many leagues. 



As an example of a remarkable vertical interruption of conti- 

 nuity in the crust of the globe, we may cite, on the authority of 

 Po7itoppidan, a certain gap, not far from Frederikshal in Norway, 

 in which the descent of a stone seems to last for two minutes. If 

 we were to suppose that this descent was effected without inter- 

 ruption ; that the stone did not rebound from side to side, and 

 that it was never arrested, now on one side of the descending 

 wall, and now on the other, these two minutes would give us, 

 for the total depth of this cleft of Frederik.shal, more than 

 12,000 feet ; that is, almost 1200 feet more than the height of 

 the highest peak of the Pyrenees. 



Immense Sheets of Water are to be found in these Stratified Formations, 

 What other appellation could be applied to the reservoir, for 

 example, which, without ceasing, at all seasons of the year, feeds- 

 the fountain of Vauchise. At its issue from the subterranean 

 rocks which form its course, this spring constitutes a real river, 

 the Sorgue. When least abundant, its product, notwithstanding, 

 according to the measurement of M. J. Guerin, amounts to 

 13,000 cubic feet per minute. When most swollen, it supplies, 



