In the interval of three and a half
centuries many changes had taken place in the physical aspect of
Nepenthe; among other things, these twelve streams of pestilential
odour had ceased to flow, all save the fountain of Saint Elias; their
very sites had been forgotten, though traditions of their former
existence still lingered among the populace.
Searching among the archives for whatever might bear on the ancient
history of these springs, Mr. Eames had accumulated abundant material
for footnotes geological, hydrographical and balneo-therapic.
Furthermore, his personal explorations on the island had enabled him to
locate the site of at least four of these old fountains, and to prove
that if some of them had been covered up under the debris of
landslides, the majority had disappeared in consequence of a general
desiccation of the province.
Lastly and chiefly, his investigations had brought him in contact with
that manuscript, already mentioned, of the Dominican monk Father
Capocchio-a manuscript in which he alighted upon a curious but
troublesome literary discovery anent these very fountains.
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