An Ancient Aqueduct.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1994, 18 April 1885, Page 2 (Supplement)

An Ancient Aqueduct.

This Governor of Samoa, Abysaidoa Paaha, has at last suooeeded, after years of work, in uncovering the entrances to a tunnel of which

Herodotus speaks with admiration as the work of Eupalino3 and Megaira, and which, according to the same authority, was built during tho tenth century B.C. The tunnel, about f),000 feet long, was intended to secure a supply of fresh water to the old seaport town of Samoa, and conaisrs of three parts. Thpre are the tunnel proper, 5£ feet high and six feet wido ; a canal about five feet deep and nearly three feet wide, which ruo3 in the mid die or on the side of the base of the tunnel ; and the acqueduot running in this canal. The acqueduct consists of earthen pipes, each 215 feet long, 112 inches to 33 inches in circumference, the sides averaging about 14 inches in thickness. Every other joint has a hole, for what purpose has not yet been fully explained. Mr. Stamatiades, a Greek arohoojlo^ist, believes that they were intended to facilitate the cleaning of the pipes, and to make the flow of water easier. The canal is arched over, but 28 manholes were provided to admit the workmen who wore charged with cleaning and re pairing the acqueduct. The tunnel is not quite straight, forming an elbow about 1,300 feet from one of the entrances. Thi3 elbow, according to Mr. Stamatiades, waa caused by a mistake in the calculations of the engineers, who had none of the instruments used in tunnel building nowadays. Tho tunnel starts near a small watercourse, which may have been quite a stream in olden times, pierces the mountain Kastri, which was formerly crowned by the Fort Samoa, and end-i a few hundred yards from the old town of Samos, about 10 feet below the surface. From the mountain slope to the city this subterranean aqueduct is protected by a massive atone structure, ending within the walls of the present Convent of St. John. The preservation of this work — which is truly wonderful, considering the imperfect mechanical rosourcps at the disposal of the builders — for nearly 3,000 years is pro. bably duo to tho care taken by the Eupalinos, who, in all places where the rock did not ncem of sufficient firmnoss, lined the tunnel with several layers of brick, running on the top into a peaked arch. — Iron.