Chapter 9 Chapter Nine New - Aberfoyle

If, with some superhuman strength, a few engineers were able to en masse, remove the 1,000-foot-thick crust that supports the lakes, rivers, bays, and riparian lands of Stirlingshire, Dumbartonshire, and Renfrewshire Remove this part, and they will find that under this huge cover lies an endless hole, which is so large that there is only one other in this world comparable to it-the famous Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. The cave consists of hundreds of chambers of various shapes and sizes.It is almost a beehive, with many tiers of cells arranged arbitrarily, but it is a cell of enormous proportions in scale, and inhabited not by bees, but by enough to keep all fishes, sloths, and Pterodactyls made their home here!

It was a veritable labyrinth, some higher than the vaults of the tallest cathedrals, others like cloisters, narrow and tortuous, the latter stretching along the horizon, the former climbing or sinking in every direction—these caverns Converge together and leave a clear line of communication between them. The pillars supporting these vaults, with their varied curves and thick walls, sit firmly between the alleys, and in this layer of the Mesozoic strata the temples themselves are composed of sandstone and slate.But between these unusable formations stretched a considerable number of coal veins tightly compressed by the formation, as if the black blood of this strange coal mine flowed through their intricate web.These deposits extend for 40 miles from north to south, even deep in the bottom of the North Canal.The importance of the coal field can only be assessed after exploration, but its value should exceed the carbonaceous deposits of Cardiff in Wales and the Newcastle deposit in Northumberland.

It should also be noted that the mining of this coal mine will be particularly easy, since, due to the peculiar arrangement of the Mesozoic strata, due to an unexplained retraction of the minerals of the geological period which solidified this group of rocks, nature has already multiplied the new- Archen Foyle's alleys and tunnels. Yes, only nature can do that!We might even believe that, in the first place, a mining field was discovered that had been abandoned for centuries.There is no such thing.No one would give up such a fortune.Human termites have never gnawed at this part of the Scottish subterranean nature made these things.But it can be said again that there is no underground palace in the Egyptian era, no catacombs in the Roman era can compare with it-if it does not refer to the famous Mammoth Cave, it, within a range of more than 20 miles, has 226 great roads, 11 lakes, 7 rivers, 8 waterfalls, 32 unfathomable wells and 57 domes, some of which hang over 450 feet.

These caves are such that New-Aberfoyle is not the work of man but of the Creator. Such was this new domain, with its incomparable riches, the discovery of which belonged to the old overman himself.Living in an old coal mine for 10 years, his rare persistence in exploration, once he made up his mind, he was supported by the incredible instinct of the miner. He must combine all these conditions to be successful. At this point, how many people are there? Others will fail and retreat.Why, during the last years of mining, did the explorations led by James Starr stop exactly at this limit, or even at the boundary of the new mine?This is by chance, and in this type of quest the surface to be probed is enormous.

At any rate, beneath Scotland there is a kind of subterranean county in which to live there is nothing but sunshine, or, when there is no sunshine, the light of a special planet. There the water accumulated in certain depressions, forming huge ponds, or even lakes larger than the Catlin just above them.There is no question that the water in these lakes is stagnant, with no currents and no breakouts.They don't have the reflection of some old Gothic castles.No birch nor tree leans over the lake's rocky edge, no mountains stretch their great shadows over the lake, no steamboat plows its furrows, no light reflects on the water, no sun casts Its bright light drenches the water, and the moon never rises above the horizon.But these deep lakes, whose mirrors cannot be wrinkled by the breeze, are not devoid of charm under the light of some electric planet, and they are held together by a cord of canals, which beautifully complete this strange realm. geographical works.

Although it is not suitable for growing all kinds of vegetables, this underground area can be used for the whole population.And who knows, if here deep underground, where the temperature is constant, as good as those of Newcastle, Alloah, or Cardiff, those of Aberfoyle, when their deposits are exhausted—who Knowing that one day the poorer classes of the United Kingdom will not use this as a sanctuary?