becomes still farther obstructed by pebbles, sand,
and red mud, thrown down from the turbid waters. The lake being thus
raised, its waters generally escape through other openings, at higher
levels, around the borders of the plain, constituting the bottom of the
closed basin.

In some places, as at Kavaros and Tripolitza, where the principal
discharge is by a gulf in the middle of the plain, nothing can be seen
over the opening in summer, when the lake dries up, but a deposit of red
mud, cracked in all directions. But the Katavothron is more commonly
situated at the foot of the surrounding escarpment of limestone; and in
that case there is sometimes room enough to allow a person to enter, in
summer, and even to penetrate far into the interior. Within is seen a
suite of chambers, communicating with each other by narrow passages; and
M. Virlet relates, that in one instance he observed, near the entrance,
human bones imbedded in recent red mud, mingled with the remains of
plants and animals of species now inhabiting the Morea. It is not
wonderful, he says, that the bones of man should be met with in such
receptacles; for so murderous have been the late wars in Greece, that
skeletons are often seen lying exposed on the surface of the
country.[1046]

In summer, when no water is flowing into the Katavothron, its mouth,
half closed up with red mud, is masked by a vigorous vegetation, which
is cherished by the moisture of the place. It is then the favorite
hiding-place and den of foxes and jackals; so that the same cavity
serves at one season of the year for the habitation of carnivorous
beasts, and at another as the channel of an engulfed river. Near the
mouth of one chasm, M. Boblaye and his companions saw the carcass of a
horse, in part devoured, the size of which seemed to have prevented the
jackals from dragging it in: the marks of their teeth were observed on
the bones, and it was evident that the floods of the ensuing winter
would wash in whatsoever might remain of the skeleton.

It has been stated that the waters of all these torrents of the Morea
are turbid where they are engulfed; but when they come out again, often
at the distance of many leagues, they are perfectly clear and limpid,
being only charged occasionally with a slight quantity of calcareous
sand. The points of efflux are usually near the sea-shores of the Morea,
but sometimes they are submarine; and when this is the case, the sands
are seen to boil up f