752 ME. C. V. BELLAMY ON THE [NOV. I9OO,. 



is not altogether improbable, though there is a doubt whether the 

 operation is sufficiently marked to influence the level of the salt- 

 lake. 



(8) Section of Barrier. 



Reverting to the section of the barrier represented on p. 750 

 (fig. 4), it may be concluded without hesitation that the strata a 

 form a conduit through which the water from the sea is constantly 

 percolating, on its way to the depression e, where at certain 

 periods of the year it makes its appearance above the surface of 

 the ground and accumulates as a salt-lake. It has been seen, in 

 considering the results of the boring, that, immediately overlying the 

 impervious stratum of clay (b 1 ), a belt of watery material is met 

 with, thus indicating that there is a steady and uninterrupted flow 

 of water at intervals through the lip of the basin and over the bed 

 of clay. 



(9) Inflow of Sea-water. 



The inflow of sea-water is not sufficient, by reason of the occur- 

 rence of impervious masses of conglomerate in the strata a, to raise 

 the surface of the lake to a height corresponding with that of the 

 sea. Before this could be arrived at the summer intervenes and 

 evaporation is started, whereby the water in the basin passes off in 

 the form of aqueous vapour, leaving the residue to accumulate in 

 the form of salt. The inflow of sea-water is constantly in progress, 

 but it may be aided during the winter by the absorption of water 

 in the soil, consequent upon rain, setting up a certain amount of 

 capillarity. Evaporation is constantly proceeding in greater or 

 lesser degree in the air, so long as the humidity of the latter 

 remains below the point of saturation; but this evaporation is 

 developed to a remarkable extent during the intense heat of the 

 Cyprus summer, and then proceeds in a greater degree than in 

 winter. 



When the winter sets in and the temperature falls, the evapora- 

 tion diminishes : with the aid of a few showers of rain the supply 

 of sea-water overcomes the loss by evaporation, and water begins 

 to make its appearance in the bed of the salt-lake, where only a 

 short time previously there was nothing but the crystallized saline 

 residue. 



Thus the formation of salt is continually proceeding : always 

 an inflow of sea-water through the soil, always followed by the 

 evaporation of the water. This process must from year to year 

 result in a greater density of the water in the basin and a conse- 

 quent greater accumulation or precipitation of salt, the operation 

 resulting in a constant and unfailing supply of that commodity. 



(10) Inflow of Fresh Water. 



In regard to the inflow of fresh water, it should be explained that 

 Prof. Gaudry visited Cyprus in the year 1853 and Dr. Unger about 

 ten years later, and there is reason to believe that in those days 



