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Fig. 20.—THE PLATEAU OF MANTINEA.

From the French Staff Map. Scale 1 : 400,000.

Analogous phenomena may be witnessed in the two southern valleys of the peninsula, those of Sparta and Messenia. The Iri, or Eurotas, is, in reality, but a large rivulet, which discharges itself into the Gulf of Marathonisi, at the end of a gorge, {63} through which the waters of the Lake of Sparta forced themselves a passage during some ancient deluge; but it is only on rare occasions that its volume of water is sufficient to remove the bar which obstructs its mouth. The Vasili-Potamo (“royal river”), on the other hand, which bursts forth at the foot of a rock a short distance from the Eurotas, though its whole course does not exceed five miles, discharges a considerable volume of water throughout the year, and its mouth is at all times open. As to the river of Messenia, the ancient Pamisus, now called Pirnatza, it is the only river of Greece, besides the Alpheus, which forms a harbour at its mouth, and it can be ascended by small vessels for a distance of eight miles; but this advantage it owes exclusively to the powerful springs of Hagios Floros, which are fed by the mountains on the east. These springs, which form a large swamp where they rise to the surface, are the real river, if volume of water is to be decisive, and the country watered and fertilised by them was called the “Happy” by the ancients, on account of its fertility.

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Fig. 21.—BIFURCATION OF THE GASTUNI.

From the French Staff Map. Scale 1 : 400,000.

The western regions of the Peloponnesus receive more rain, and they are likewise in the possession of the most considerable river, the Alpheus, now called Ruphia, from one of its tributaries. The latter, the ancient Ladon, conveys a larger volume of water towards the sea than the Alpheus. It was as celebrated amongst the Greeks as was the Peneus of Thessaly, on account of the transparency of its waters, and the smiling scenery along its banks. It is partly fed by the snows of Mount Erymanthus, and, like most rivers of the Morea, derives a portion of its waters from subterranean tributaries rising on the central plateau. The Ladon thus receives the waters of Lake Phenea, whilst the Alpheus proper {64} is fed in its upper course from katavothras on the shores of the ancient lakes of Orchomenus and Mantinea. Having traversed the basin of Megalopolis, anciently a lake, it passes through a series of picturesque gorges, and reaches its lower valley. A charming tradition, illustrative of the ties of amity which existed between Elis and Syracuse, makes this river plunge beneath the sea and reappear in Sicily, close to the fountain of his beloved Arethusa. The ancient Greeks, who witnessed the disappearance of so many rivers, would hardly have looked upon this submarine course of the Alpheus as a thing to wonder at.