vii HASISADRA'S ADVENTURE 281 



water lakes, apparently disconnected with the 

 Ponto-Aralian sea. This state of things lasted 

 long enough to allow of the formation of the 

 thick lacustrine strata to which I have referred. 

 I am not aware that there is the smallest ground 

 for the assumption that the ^Egean land was 

 broken up in consequence of any of the " catas- 

 trophes " which are so commonly invoked. 1 For 

 anything that appears to the contrary, the narrow, 

 steep-sided, straits between the islands of the 

 ^Egean archipelago may have been originally 

 brought about by ordinary atmospheric and stream 

 action ; and may then have been filled from the 

 Mediterranean, during a slow submergence proceed- 

 ing from the south northwards. The strait of the 

 Dardanelles is bounded by undisturbed pleisto- 

 cene strata forty feet thick, through which, to all 

 appearance, the present passage has been quietly 

 cut. 



That Olympus and Ossa were torn asunder 

 and the waters of the Thessalian basin poured 

 forth, is a very ancient notion, and an often cited 

 " confirmation " of Deucalion's flood. It has not 

 yet ceased to be in vogue, apparently because 

 those who entertain it are not aware that modern 

 geological investigation has conclusively proved 

 that the gorge of the Peneus is as typical an 



1 It is true that earthquakes are common enough, but they 

 are incompetent to produce such changes as those which have 

 taken place. 



