DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.846#0088
Euhea. 85
lions had no other effect than to excite the laughter of the in-
habitants of the place.
Eubea, or Licodia.
A little mortified at being so cheated, and resolving not again
■ to place my trust in the learned, I left this city with as much
haste as I had entered it, when in pursuit of my milky stream;
, and I did not stop till I beheld the soil of the ancient Eubea.
Amongst the numerous monuments which time and man have
not been able entirely to destroy, may be reckoned the subterra-
neous street, or rather streets, the entrance of which was situ-
ated in the centre of the ancient Eubea, but which is now to
be sought at the southern extremity of the new town. This
entrance consists merely of a square hole, about two feet every
way. This passage, so extremely narrow that it forces the tra-
veller to advance on all-fours, begins to enlarge, and gradually
increases in height at the end of two or three yards. The street
is dug in the live rock, and varies both in height and breadth, the
former being from eight feet and a half to ten feet, and the latter
from two feet to two feet and a half. In leaving this aperture,
my guide led me northwards for about twenty or thirty steps;
there two path-ways diverged, and we followed that on the left.
After proceeding about the same length, I found myself oppo-
site to another passage, at the end of which some steps, almost de-
stroyed by time, led us to a fresh passage, of the same structure
and the same height as the former. This second corridor led to
the citadel, which was above it, but the communication is now
entirely cut off. In the midst of the ruins which we saw there,
we remarked a niche cut in the wall, and ornamented with
fresco paintings, a work of modern times. Here we were forced
, to return to the point where the three passages united, when we
u turned on our right towards the east,and, at the end of fifty paces,
• two other passages presented themselves; that on the right, to-
wards the south, is encumbered with ruins, which scarcely al-
low you to proceed farther than the last. The one of the two
remaining passages opening on the left, proceeds on a south-
easterly direction, and this road, at the end of five or six paces,
conducts you into a sort of oval hall, fourteen or fifteen feet
broad, and nineteen or twenty feet long; its height, probably,
may be nine or ten feet. Here again you would have a choice
between two passages, one towards the east, the other towards
the north-east, if they were not both of them choaked up with
the ruins which have fallen from their roofs. It is conjectured
that these passages were constructed in order to form a commu-
nication between the ancient city and the citadel.
In contemplating the other monuments of this town, a sensa-
lions had no other effect than to excite the laughter of the in-
habitants of the place.
Eubea, or Licodia.
A little mortified at being so cheated, and resolving not again
■ to place my trust in the learned, I left this city with as much
haste as I had entered it, when in pursuit of my milky stream;
, and I did not stop till I beheld the soil of the ancient Eubea.
Amongst the numerous monuments which time and man have
not been able entirely to destroy, may be reckoned the subterra-
neous street, or rather streets, the entrance of which was situ-
ated in the centre of the ancient Eubea, but which is now to
be sought at the southern extremity of the new town. This
entrance consists merely of a square hole, about two feet every
way. This passage, so extremely narrow that it forces the tra-
veller to advance on all-fours, begins to enlarge, and gradually
increases in height at the end of two or three yards. The street
is dug in the live rock, and varies both in height and breadth, the
former being from eight feet and a half to ten feet, and the latter
from two feet to two feet and a half. In leaving this aperture,
my guide led me northwards for about twenty or thirty steps;
there two path-ways diverged, and we followed that on the left.
After proceeding about the same length, I found myself oppo-
site to another passage, at the end of which some steps, almost de-
stroyed by time, led us to a fresh passage, of the same structure
and the same height as the former. This second corridor led to
the citadel, which was above it, but the communication is now
entirely cut off. In the midst of the ruins which we saw there,
we remarked a niche cut in the wall, and ornamented with
fresco paintings, a work of modern times. Here we were forced
, to return to the point where the three passages united, when we
u turned on our right towards the east,and, at the end of fifty paces,
• two other passages presented themselves; that on the right, to-
wards the south, is encumbered with ruins, which scarcely al-
low you to proceed farther than the last. The one of the two
remaining passages opening on the left, proceeds on a south-
easterly direction, and this road, at the end of five or six paces,
conducts you into a sort of oval hall, fourteen or fifteen feet
broad, and nineteen or twenty feet long; its height, probably,
may be nine or ten feet. Here again you would have a choice
between two passages, one towards the east, the other towards
the north-east, if they were not both of them choaked up with
the ruins which have fallen from their roofs. It is conjectured
that these passages were constructed in order to form a commu-
nication between the ancient city and the citadel.
In contemplating the other monuments of this town, a sensa-