DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5542#0260
Chap. xliV.J
RATS DES STEPPES.
249
mals seemed to be, to bite off the ear and carry it bodily to
the mouth of their burrow, where they could safely remain
prepared to retreat, whilst leisurely picking out the grains,
which alone they carried into their holes. They looked like
careful farmers laying in their store of provisions for the
winter.
The pumiceous tuff or peperite, which constitutes the
soil of this undulating country as far as Nemb Sheher,
consists almost entirely of pink pumice, with a few small
fragments of black obsidian ; it is extremely light and
dry. At two we reached a fountain on the banks of a dry
river-bed, flowing from a gorge in the high hills to the
right. No less than twenty or thirty stone troughs were
here placed in a line, the water flowing continually from
one into another. After another mile we descended by
steep and well-cultivated hills into a deep ravine which
conducted us to the valley of Nemb Sheher, bearing E.
by S. In the bottom I unexpectedly met with the under-
lying formation of red and yellow marls, sand, and gypsum,
dipping to the S.E.; and after crossing the bed of the tor-
rent, and two other low ridges and intervening gulleys, all
converging towards the north, and capped with basaltic lava,
we reached at three the burial ground of Nemb Sheher,
below the modern town of that name, built round the N.W.
shoulder of the mountain-chain, at the confluence of two
large valleys : it is commanded and overlooked by a for-
midable castle, built on a projecting promontory of basalt,
and erected, like the town, about 120 years ago.
I was scarcely established in my konak when the governor
sent his Chiaya, a jovial, laughing Turk, to congratulate me
on my arrival. He was evidently bitten by the prevailing
taste for Frank manners, was constantly talking of eve^-
thing a la Franca : he would hum a tune, and then ask
with an air of satisfaction whether I liked music a la Franca,
after which he concluded his civilities by requesting a bottle
of rum. He offered his services as cicerone, and conducted
me to the bazaars, moscpics, &c.; the former were clean,
RATS DES STEPPES.
249
mals seemed to be, to bite off the ear and carry it bodily to
the mouth of their burrow, where they could safely remain
prepared to retreat, whilst leisurely picking out the grains,
which alone they carried into their holes. They looked like
careful farmers laying in their store of provisions for the
winter.
The pumiceous tuff or peperite, which constitutes the
soil of this undulating country as far as Nemb Sheher,
consists almost entirely of pink pumice, with a few small
fragments of black obsidian ; it is extremely light and
dry. At two we reached a fountain on the banks of a dry
river-bed, flowing from a gorge in the high hills to the
right. No less than twenty or thirty stone troughs were
here placed in a line, the water flowing continually from
one into another. After another mile we descended by
steep and well-cultivated hills into a deep ravine which
conducted us to the valley of Nemb Sheher, bearing E.
by S. In the bottom I unexpectedly met with the under-
lying formation of red and yellow marls, sand, and gypsum,
dipping to the S.E.; and after crossing the bed of the tor-
rent, and two other low ridges and intervening gulleys, all
converging towards the north, and capped with basaltic lava,
we reached at three the burial ground of Nemb Sheher,
below the modern town of that name, built round the N.W.
shoulder of the mountain-chain, at the confluence of two
large valleys : it is commanded and overlooked by a for-
midable castle, built on a projecting promontory of basalt,
and erected, like the town, about 120 years ago.
I was scarcely established in my konak when the governor
sent his Chiaya, a jovial, laughing Turk, to congratulate me
on my arrival. He was evidently bitten by the prevailing
taste for Frank manners, was constantly talking of eve^-
thing a la Franca : he would hum a tune, and then ask
with an air of satisfaction whether I liked music a la Franca,
after which he concluded his civilities by requesting a bottle
of rum. He offered his services as cicerone, and conducted
me to the bazaars, moscpics, &c.; the former were clean,