DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5541#0434
Chap, xxiii.]
ancient tomb.
401
in and near Yeuzgatt the weather was mild and temperate;
the thermometer in the shade never rising aho-ve 78° or
79° Fahr., and in the mornings generally marking 62° or 64°.
Thursday, August 25.—We returned to Alajah by the
same road by which we had reached Yeuzgatt, and on
arriving at the little village of Seid Ouseu halted to ascend
the hills to the west of the valley, where I had been led to
expect some extensive ruins, but on reaching the summit
of the hill I only found part of a rubble wall, apparently
the remains of a small Turkish fort. In my disappoint-
ment I was ready to come to the conclusion that all Italian
Medicos in Asia Minor were as ignorant and as wanting in
discrimination as the Turks; every symptom of a wall on the
summit of a hill is immediately magnified into the ruins of
an ancient city.
Friday, August 26.—At half-past seven I started under
the guidance of a Turk to visit some tombs excavated in
the rocks, about four miles to the north. After crossing the
plain for nearly two miles N. by E., we reached the banks
of the Alajah Chai flowing north until it reached the
mountains. We continued along its right bank for some
distance until we arrived at the entrance of a narrow gorge,
through which the river flowed, and we came in sight of
the tomb. At a distance it resembled four narrow cham-
bers high up in the limestone rock; but on a nearer ap-
proach it was very remarkable, consisting of a long gallery
thirty feet by ten, and about sixteen in height, supported
hy three Doric columns of rude proportions tapering con-
siderably towards the top, as represented in the accompany-
ing woodcut; their circumference at the base, or one foot
above the ground, is seventeen or eighteen feet. The gal-
lery opens at each end into a chamber ten or twelve feet
square, by a small doorway three feet from the ground,
and lighted by apertures about a foot square, cut through
the outer wall of rock. In the centre of the gallery is
a niche or chamber extending a few feet into the rock ; an-
other is also cut in the left-hand chamber, opposite the
vol. i. 2d
ancient tomb.
401
in and near Yeuzgatt the weather was mild and temperate;
the thermometer in the shade never rising aho-ve 78° or
79° Fahr., and in the mornings generally marking 62° or 64°.
Thursday, August 25.—We returned to Alajah by the
same road by which we had reached Yeuzgatt, and on
arriving at the little village of Seid Ouseu halted to ascend
the hills to the west of the valley, where I had been led to
expect some extensive ruins, but on reaching the summit
of the hill I only found part of a rubble wall, apparently
the remains of a small Turkish fort. In my disappoint-
ment I was ready to come to the conclusion that all Italian
Medicos in Asia Minor were as ignorant and as wanting in
discrimination as the Turks; every symptom of a wall on the
summit of a hill is immediately magnified into the ruins of
an ancient city.
Friday, August 26.—At half-past seven I started under
the guidance of a Turk to visit some tombs excavated in
the rocks, about four miles to the north. After crossing the
plain for nearly two miles N. by E., we reached the banks
of the Alajah Chai flowing north until it reached the
mountains. We continued along its right bank for some
distance until we arrived at the entrance of a narrow gorge,
through which the river flowed, and we came in sight of
the tomb. At a distance it resembled four narrow cham-
bers high up in the limestone rock; but on a nearer ap-
proach it was very remarkable, consisting of a long gallery
thirty feet by ten, and about sixteen in height, supported
hy three Doric columns of rude proportions tapering con-
siderably towards the top, as represented in the accompany-
ing woodcut; their circumference at the base, or one foot
above the ground, is seventeen or eighteen feet. The gal-
lery opens at each end into a chamber ten or twelve feet
square, by a small doorway three feet from the ground,
and lighted by apertures about a foot square, cut through
the outer wall of rock. In the centre of the gallery is
a niche or chamber extending a few feet into the rock ; an-
other is also cut in the left-hand chamber, opposite the
vol. i. 2d