‹‹‹ Vitr. 8.3.10 | Table of Contents | Vitr. 8.3.12 ›››
11Some springs are exceedingly bitter, from the bitterness of the juices of the earth; as the river Hypanis in Pontus, which, for the first forty miles from its source, is of very sweet flavour; but at a spot one hundred and sixty miles from its mouth, a very small spring falls into it, after which the whole body of the river becomes bitter; and this because the water flows through that sort of earth and veins from whence red lead is procured.
11There are also springs which issue exceedingly bitter, owing to a bitter juice in the soil, such as the river Hypanis in Pontus. For about forty miles from its source its taste is very sweet; then it reaches a point about one hundred and sixty miles from its mouth, where it is joined by a very small brook. This runs into it, and at once makes that vast river bitter, for the reason that the water of the brook becomes bitter by flowing through the kind of soil and the veins in which there are sandarach mines.