DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4719#0289
ALABAKDA.
267
I XV.
niomnir.
.v • ■ :::j :■.:;■
•*.S ..:':. •>: It.
Attnb i
tinman?, is
ft*
the two rivers. The whole country is mountainous, but the
valleys highly productive and extensive. Scattered about
are the tents of the Yourooks, who watch the numerous
flocks of sheep, and herds of cows and buffalos. The plains
are in large tracks of monotonous colours, with the young
wheat and barley, and here and there the rich-looking red
soil is being ploughed to receive the seeds of the cotton-plant.
Eising from this plain are green slopes, covered with flocks,
and the fig, olive, and vine show that a fine climate favours
this region. The ruins of the city below are mysterious;
there is a boldness and simple massiveness in the construc-
tion of the walls and theatre, which is anterior to the age of
the cities I have seen during the past week, but an almost
total absence of inscriptions leaves much in obscurity. The
whole of the materials used in its construction are of igneous
rock, and generally of a coarse granite, whose perishing sur-
face has been further injured by the lichens growing upon
it. The few inscriptions which I traced with difficulty upon
the sarcophagi, were too imperfect to throw much light
upon the name or history of the city. The theatre, which
faced the north-west, was as usual built in the side of a hill,
and its massive stone-work is of the beautiful and regular
Greek style, the joints between the large stones being ren-
dered more conspicuous by the bulging or cushioned form of
each stone ; the walls are built with two wide and one nar-
row course successively; the proscenium has been destroyed
and the seats have disappeared, but the outward form re-
mains, as well as the three arches for the vomitories. The
267
I XV.
niomnir.
.v • ■ :::j :■.:;■
•*.S ..:':. •>: It.
Attnb i
tinman?, is
ft*
the two rivers. The whole country is mountainous, but the
valleys highly productive and extensive. Scattered about
are the tents of the Yourooks, who watch the numerous
flocks of sheep, and herds of cows and buffalos. The plains
are in large tracks of monotonous colours, with the young
wheat and barley, and here and there the rich-looking red
soil is being ploughed to receive the seeds of the cotton-plant.
Eising from this plain are green slopes, covered with flocks,
and the fig, olive, and vine show that a fine climate favours
this region. The ruins of the city below are mysterious;
there is a boldness and simple massiveness in the construc-
tion of the walls and theatre, which is anterior to the age of
the cities I have seen during the past week, but an almost
total absence of inscriptions leaves much in obscurity. The
whole of the materials used in its construction are of igneous
rock, and generally of a coarse granite, whose perishing sur-
face has been further injured by the lichens growing upon
it. The few inscriptions which I traced with difficulty upon
the sarcophagi, were too imperfect to throw much light
upon the name or history of the city. The theatre, which
faced the north-west, was as usual built in the side of a hill,
and its massive stone-work is of the beautiful and regular
Greek style, the joints between the large stones being ren-
dered more conspicuous by the bulging or cushioned form of
each stone ; the walls are built with two wide and one nar-
row course successively; the proscenium has been destroyed
and the seats have disappeared, but the outward form re-
mains, as well as the three arches for the vomitories. The