DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5542#0300
Chap, xlvii.]
GEOLOGY.
287
it, and leaving its shaded roads and gardens, chiefly filled
with apricot-trees bearing delicious fruit, we ascended the
cliffs on our right, in a direction W. by S..
This cliff consisted of a succession of tei-races formed by
several thick formations of peperite, separated by beds of
coarse conglomerate, containing pebbles of granite, trap,
basalt, &c, and which, being of a firmer texture, form the
flooring of each successive terrace. On reaching the top
of the cliff, a barren rocky valley nearly a mile in width
opened before us, bounded by hills of tuff, in which 1 ob-
served a few instances of those conical masses into which
this rock has a tendency to disintegrate, some of which
were capped, like mushrooms, with masses of a harder
stratum, similar to that with which the hills on either side
of the valley were uniformly covered : large masses of it,
detached by the decay of the subjacent rock, lay scattered
about in the valley at the foot of the cliffs. Here, also,
as at Urgub, caves have been cut in the rocky pinnacles,
some of which betrayed an attempt at architectural deco-
ration.
After we had ascended the valley for about two miles,
it branched off into two, each being watered by a small
stream, the one flowing from the N.W., the other from the
west. On the point of the low hill which separates them
were several large blocks of stone; and ascending the hill,
I found the ruins of a square building of the same style,
surrounded by an extensive terrace marked by numerous
blocks fixed in the ground, and still remaining in situ y the
south wall of the terrace extended from W.N.W., to E.S.E.,
and below it were the foundations of other buildings. At
the east end of the hill a tomb was excavated in the rock,
in which a stone bench or ledge was left all round the inside
about three feet from the ground; the entrance was very
low, with a small hole perforated above it, for giving light.
A porch with a round roof was left outside, under which
were a few sepulchral tablets carved on the flat surface of
the rock on each side of the doorway; two of these con-
GEOLOGY.
287
it, and leaving its shaded roads and gardens, chiefly filled
with apricot-trees bearing delicious fruit, we ascended the
cliffs on our right, in a direction W. by S..
This cliff consisted of a succession of tei-races formed by
several thick formations of peperite, separated by beds of
coarse conglomerate, containing pebbles of granite, trap,
basalt, &c, and which, being of a firmer texture, form the
flooring of each successive terrace. On reaching the top
of the cliff, a barren rocky valley nearly a mile in width
opened before us, bounded by hills of tuff, in which 1 ob-
served a few instances of those conical masses into which
this rock has a tendency to disintegrate, some of which
were capped, like mushrooms, with masses of a harder
stratum, similar to that with which the hills on either side
of the valley were uniformly covered : large masses of it,
detached by the decay of the subjacent rock, lay scattered
about in the valley at the foot of the cliffs. Here, also,
as at Urgub, caves have been cut in the rocky pinnacles,
some of which betrayed an attempt at architectural deco-
ration.
After we had ascended the valley for about two miles,
it branched off into two, each being watered by a small
stream, the one flowing from the N.W., the other from the
west. On the point of the low hill which separates them
were several large blocks of stone; and ascending the hill,
I found the ruins of a square building of the same style,
surrounded by an extensive terrace marked by numerous
blocks fixed in the ground, and still remaining in situ y the
south wall of the terrace extended from W.N.W., to E.S.E.,
and below it were the foundations of other buildings. At
the east end of the hill a tomb was excavated in the rock,
in which a stone bench or ledge was left all round the inside
about three feet from the ground; the entrance was very
low, with a small hole perforated above it, for giving light.
A porch with a round roof was left outside, under which
were a few sepulchral tablets carved on the flat surface of
the rock on each side of the doorway; two of these con-