I share the view that the clouds are converted into water, which is
absorbed into the mountain caverns, for I have seen with my own eyes
in Spain, rain falling drop by drop incessantly into caverns from
whence brooks flowed down the mountainside, watering the olive
orchards, vineyards and gardens of all kinds. The most illustrious
Cardinal Ludovico of Aragon, who is so devotedly attached to you, and
two Italian bishops, one of Boviano, Silvio Pandono, and the other,
an Archbishop whose own name and that of his diocese I am unable to
recollect, will bear me witness. We were together at Granada when it
was captured from the Moors, and to divert ourselves we used to go to
some wooded hills, whence a murmuring rivulet flowed across the plain.
While our most illustrious Ludovico went bird-hunting with his bow
along its banks, the two bishops and I formed a plan to ascend the
hill to discover the source of the brook, for we were not very far
from the top of the mountain. Taking up our soutanes, therefore, and
following the river-bed, we found a cavern incessantly supplied by
dropping water. From this cavern, the water formed by these drops
trickled into an artificial reservoir in the rocks at the bottom where
the rivulet formed. Another such cave filled by the dew is in the
celebrated town of Valladolid, where we at present reside. It stands
in a vineyard not farther than a stadium from the walls of the town
and belongs to a lawyer, Villena, citizen of Valladolid, and very
learned in the science of law. Perhaps moisture changed into rain is
collected in little caves in the rocks and sometimes forms springs,
due to the infiltration of water in the hills; but I wonder how Nature
can produce such quantities of water from these meagre infiltrations!
In my opinion, two causes may be conceded: the first is the frequent
rains; the second, the length in this region of the winter and autumn
seasons. The countries in question are so near to the equinoctial line