DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.847#0422
CASTEL D ASSO.
393
When our eyes first opened upon the sepulchres
of Castel d'Asso, we saw exactly what the plate re-
presents, a line of irregular rocks, which gave us
the idea of having once all been smoothed, having
had a shaved face towards the castle, and of
having afterwards been broken and made uneven
either by some convulsion of nature, or by the mis-
chief and wantonness of man. As we sat and stared at
the sort of street which we began gradually to dis-
cover, we saw that doors had been engraved high
up the rocks in the Egyptian form; that is, smaller
at the top than at the bottom, and with a
broken and defaced, but perfectly visible rod cornice
above them. As we gazed still further, we saw
that these rock sepulchres had once joined one
another in a continued series; there was indeed
fully a mile of them, thirty of which we counted,
and the castle valley is met by another towards its
centre, and directly opposite the beautiful old
fortress, in which we saw sepulchres in the cliffs on
both sides. They were like a street, the dwellings
of which correspond to each other. We conde-
scended at last to approach these strange and
chiselled rocks, that we might examine them more
closely, and found beneath each engraved door, if
I may use such an expression, an open one, six or
eight feet lower, which led into the burial-chamber.
At would appear that these cavern mouths had for-
merly been covered up with earth, and that nothing
remained above ground but the smooth face of the
rock, with its false Egyptian door and narrow
s 5
393
When our eyes first opened upon the sepulchres
of Castel d'Asso, we saw exactly what the plate re-
presents, a line of irregular rocks, which gave us
the idea of having once all been smoothed, having
had a shaved face towards the castle, and of
having afterwards been broken and made uneven
either by some convulsion of nature, or by the mis-
chief and wantonness of man. As we sat and stared at
the sort of street which we began gradually to dis-
cover, we saw that doors had been engraved high
up the rocks in the Egyptian form; that is, smaller
at the top than at the bottom, and with a
broken and defaced, but perfectly visible rod cornice
above them. As we gazed still further, we saw
that these rock sepulchres had once joined one
another in a continued series; there was indeed
fully a mile of them, thirty of which we counted,
and the castle valley is met by another towards its
centre, and directly opposite the beautiful old
fortress, in which we saw sepulchres in the cliffs on
both sides. They were like a street, the dwellings
of which correspond to each other. We conde-
scended at last to approach these strange and
chiselled rocks, that we might examine them more
closely, and found beneath each engraved door, if
I may use such an expression, an open one, six or
eight feet lower, which led into the burial-chamber.
At would appear that these cavern mouths had for-
merly been covered up with earth, and that nothing
remained above ground but the smooth face of the
rock, with its false Egyptian door and narrow
s 5