100 RUINED CASTLES IN ASIA MINOR. 
degrees. It is about ten feet in diameter and goes down 
to a great depth. The bottom is always filled with 
stones and rubbish so that the exact depth cannot be 
measured in any instance, but some of them are still 
open to a depth of three hundred feet, and how much 
farther they went could only be ascertained by removing 
the debris at the bottom, thus emulating the almost in- 
calculable labor of the original diggers. In some a 
spring of delicious cool water is found at the bottom, 
and in others the water has filled up the well to its very 
mouth, while others still are perfectly dry, as now par- 
tially filled up. The conclusion is that the original 
castle builders considered it a prime requisite to have an 
unfailing supply of water, and so they chose their spot 
and pushed their shaft down and down till they struck 
water, which, once reached, would never fail them. 
The angle was undoubtedly chosen to facilitate descent, 
and for this purpose steps were originally cut, all the 
way down, though these are for the most part ob- 
literated or covered up. An angle of forty-five degrees, 
however, without steps is not an easy grade to ascend 
or descend, over loose stones and sand and earth moist- 
ened by the underground dampness. Hence the lu- 
dicrous is not wholly lacking from the experiences of 
such curious persons as insist on exploring these 
caverns. As when, with lighted taper, after a few 
cautious steps, you find yourself sliding rapidly and ir- 
resistibly downward into the darkness in some prepos- 
terous position, or reaching out to grasp what appears 
like a projection from the rocky wall, you find you 
have clutched and carried away a bat, who was inno- 
cently sleeping, suspended, head downward, by his 
claws. The rock on which this castle is built consists 
in part of a coarse conglomerate, containing large peb- 
bles of all varities of agate, carnelian, jasper, onyx and 
chalcedony. And it is an interesting coincidence that 
