224 KERTCH-POTI CABLE. 



Indo-European line, which I shall speak of later on, 

 between Kertch and Poti parallel to the shore, but 

 the very next year was destroyed by an earthquake 

 simultaneously at many points. On attempting to take 

 it up again it appeared that this was not possible, as it 

 was covered for the most part with rubble and earth. 

 This, and the circumstance that the interruption of 

 the telegraph service took place just at the moment, 

 when a severe shock was felt at the coast station. 

 Suchum-Kale, proved that the breaking of the cable 

 had actually been caused by the earthquake. This is 

 moreover quite intelligible, since soil and rubble, de- 

 posited on the shelving shore, are carried down to the 

 sea by numerous water-courses. From time to time 

 these masses must slip further, when a cable imbedded 

 in them will of necessity be torn. The movement 

 alluded to could not but be initiated by an earthquake 

 simultaneously at all places where the equilibrium had 

 been rendered unstable by recent deposits. 



Through these and similar occurrences we have 

 learnt the lesson that submarine cables should never 

 be laid on the slope of steep declivities, and especially 

 not where soil and rubble are carried to a deep or 

 inland sea by rivers discharging into them. 



We may regard the period of the cable -layings 

 described in the foregoing as our proper apprentice- 

 ship for such undertakings. Instead of the anticipated 

 profit they brought us many anxieties, personal dangers, 

 and serious losses, but they paved the way for the 

 successes, which subsequently fell to the lot of our 



