About a hundred and twenty yards distant.
The temperature was considerably warmer than the air, but I had no
thermometer to mark the difference.
The aqueduct would have carried at least one-third more than the present
volume, which was about twenty-six inches deep, and three feet in width.
The water was beautifully clear and the current rapid, but I had no
means of measuring the velocity.
The stone-work of the aqueduct, always moist from the percolation, must
form a charming exhibition of maidenhair ferns during summer-time, as
the crevices were all occupied by plants, whose leaves, even at this
season (February), were several inches in length.
We strolled up the dry ravine above the spring, and ascended the hill to
an extensive plateau, upon which grew two or three caroub-trees; here
was a sudden change; the soil was red, and we entered the compact grey
limestone (jurassic) which forms the Carpas range. On the extreme verge
of the plateau of red soil we had an admirable example of the formation
of the conical mounds of earth, two or three of which already existed,
while others were in process of development from the melting-away of the
soil during heavy rains. As the surface dissolved under the action of
rainfall, it flouted down the steep inclinations, until a base was
formed, at the expense of the upper area; by degrees gullies were
created in the rear, and these would rapidly become deeper under the
action of running water, until they reached the lower level of the base.
A circle thus formed, an apex would be the natural result of the
denudation and decay of the upper surface which would produce a cone.
