DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4719#0144
had fallen |,
a poor:
upon meg, |
aid that k\
on the roafc
that tk
iim mm
•
the coat m
y
iinm
•ward, aL
r, had he not \
perhaps i
•
» i
• '
dar. For'
t. on each I
? ravine wa>
i bold and
rallvofma:
marble:
I theit
\ are the mo*
*' distar.
blown into*
, dust 009*
eopleride'
:01th€t
■.Jo*
Bf parts ^
HOAD TO SAGALASST7S.
123
this tufa, and formed hills of Koman cement: perhaps na-
ture first suggested this invention to the Romans, and we
have learned it from their works. Pieces of pumice-stone
were united by this cement, so as to form cliffs and ca-
vernous rocks some hundred feet in height. It seemed to
me that there was here every variety of volcanic substance,
from the white and light pumice-stone to the metalliferous
black basalt. The material of which these sand-hills are
composed is precisely the same as that in which the city of
Pompeii was buried. What may not here lie beneath its
drifts! Many columns and worked stones are rolled into
the river which runs at the base of these hills ; and there
are several caves cut with squared openings, only half-buried
by the sand.
Though not a stranger to high mountain-passes, I have
never experienced such cutting cold nor so strong a wind as
in this pass of the Taurus range; neither I nor any of my
men could ride, and we were obliged occasionally to lie
down until the gusts had ceased: the very rocks of marble
seemed cut by it, for they stood in shivered points, through
which the wind hissed fiercely. We passed much snow, and
were visited by a storm of small pieces of ice, of broken
forms and transparent; this was succeeded by beating rain
and snow, as we descended towards the valley of Alaysoon,
where in two hours we arrived thoroughly drenched. How-
ever, hearing of some ruins within a few miles, I risked the
repetition of the storm, and walked about three miles again
up the mountain, through a craggy wilderness, into which I
feared the peasant took me only to see some tombs cut in
the rocks, as the situation appeared too high and dreary for
the living of any age. Tombs we did pass, and then climbed
up steep hills which were covered with broken tiles, crockery
of terra-cotta, lamps, jugs, pieces of glass, etc., but none of
sufficient value to be worth picking up. At length I saw
many squared stones which had been rolled down the hills,
a 2
a poor:
upon meg, |
aid that k\
on the roafc
that tk
iim mm
•
the coat m
y
iinm
•ward, aL
r, had he not \
perhaps i
•
» i
• '
dar. For'
t. on each I
? ravine wa>
i bold and
rallvofma:
marble:
I theit
\ are the mo*
*' distar.
blown into*
, dust 009*
eopleride'
:01th€t
■.Jo*
Bf parts ^
HOAD TO SAGALASST7S.
123
this tufa, and formed hills of Koman cement: perhaps na-
ture first suggested this invention to the Romans, and we
have learned it from their works. Pieces of pumice-stone
were united by this cement, so as to form cliffs and ca-
vernous rocks some hundred feet in height. It seemed to
me that there was here every variety of volcanic substance,
from the white and light pumice-stone to the metalliferous
black basalt. The material of which these sand-hills are
composed is precisely the same as that in which the city of
Pompeii was buried. What may not here lie beneath its
drifts! Many columns and worked stones are rolled into
the river which runs at the base of these hills ; and there
are several caves cut with squared openings, only half-buried
by the sand.
Though not a stranger to high mountain-passes, I have
never experienced such cutting cold nor so strong a wind as
in this pass of the Taurus range; neither I nor any of my
men could ride, and we were obliged occasionally to lie
down until the gusts had ceased: the very rocks of marble
seemed cut by it, for they stood in shivered points, through
which the wind hissed fiercely. We passed much snow, and
were visited by a storm of small pieces of ice, of broken
forms and transparent; this was succeeded by beating rain
and snow, as we descended towards the valley of Alaysoon,
where in two hours we arrived thoroughly drenched. How-
ever, hearing of some ruins within a few miles, I risked the
repetition of the storm, and walked about three miles again
up the mountain, through a craggy wilderness, into which I
feared the peasant took me only to see some tombs cut in
the rocks, as the situation appeared too high and dreary for
the living of any age. Tombs we did pass, and then climbed
up steep hills which were covered with broken tiles, crockery
of terra-cotta, lamps, jugs, pieces of glass, etc., but none of
sufficient value to be worth picking up. At length I saw
many squared stones which had been rolled down the hills,
a 2