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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



disturbances, is embalmed doubtless in the tradition of the Ogy- 

 gean Deluge, Ogygea being the original name of Bceotia. A simi- 

 lar trouble must have occurred about the time of Alexander the 

 Great, who appears to have contemplated the reclaiming of the 



SUSTAINING WALL OF MASONRY. 



basin. Strabo says: "When the outlets were again obstructed, 

 Crates, the miner, a man of Chalcis, began to clear away the 

 obstructions, but desisted in consequence of the Boeotians being in 

 a state of insurrection, although, as he himself says in the letter 

 to Alexander, many places had been already drained/' 



These statements of Strabo would lead to the inference that 

 the drainage of the basin by the ancients consisted only in keep- 

 ing free from obstruction certain subterraneous passages through 

 which the waters flowed to the sea ; and this would probably have 

 been the conclusion to-day but for the recent efforts of the Greek 

 government to reclaim the submerged lands. These efforts, under 

 the supervision of experienced engineers, have resulted in nearly 

 draining the basin, and have led to the discovery of a complete 

 ancient system of hydraulic works dating from so remote a period 

 that all record or tradition of their construction has been lost. 

 This system, so vast and comprehensive as to excite the wonder 

 of modern engineers, taking into consideration the primitive 

 appliances of the ancients, served to convert this now miasmatic 

 basin into a fruitful plain, the home, a thousand years before 

 our era, of a thriving and numerous population. 



To give a clear conception of these ancient works and of the 

 problems which the prehistoric engineers had to solve, it will be 

 necessary to take a brief topographical survey of the region. 



