DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9840#0188
VII.]
IN THE CAVERN OF MELIDHONI.
137
complete range of stalactites separates it from a good
sized passage; after walking along which wre enter a
much smaller one, only eight feet long, which leads into
a very little room, where we find water and many earthen-
ware vessels. They were already firmly and almost in-
separably attached to the ground by means of the deposit
left by the constant dripping of the water. In the
course of a century it would wholly have imbedded them
in stalagmites. My Greek companions, with great diffi-
culty, succeeded in rescuing these utensils from the grave
which was beginning to swallow them up. Going on
from this chamber, we traverse a passage so low and
narrow that we are obliged to crawl on our hands and
knees, and descend into a small room, the ground in
which is literally covered with bones and skulls: in its
centre is a columnar stalagmite, which reaches from the
ground to the rocks about eighteen feet above our heads.
There are also some other considerable stalagmites in
the room. A narrow passage leads, by a steep descent,
from this chamber to another nearly under it, also small;
and on entering which about a dozen skulls, and a pro-
portionate number of bones, are seen spread over the
ground. This then was the furthest point to which
the unhappy refugees could flee, and here the last of
them perished.
The want of a sufficient number of lights, on our
first visit, prevented my examining the cavern as I
wished : I therefore returned to it on the Sunday morn-
ing, having first obtained, from the Papas of Melidhoni,
a supply of wax candles, of his own manufacture.
The above account is the result of both my visits.
I cannot finish speaking on this subject, without
recurring to the inscription, of which I have already
made mention, and which is now wholly buried by the
mass of earth and stones heaped up at the entrance of
the cavern. The copy sent to Gruter by Pigafetta,
was made with some care, and the verses, as given below,
may now be said to contain only one word, Salvius or
IN THE CAVERN OF MELIDHONI.
137
complete range of stalactites separates it from a good
sized passage; after walking along which wre enter a
much smaller one, only eight feet long, which leads into
a very little room, where we find water and many earthen-
ware vessels. They were already firmly and almost in-
separably attached to the ground by means of the deposit
left by the constant dripping of the water. In the
course of a century it would wholly have imbedded them
in stalagmites. My Greek companions, with great diffi-
culty, succeeded in rescuing these utensils from the grave
which was beginning to swallow them up. Going on
from this chamber, we traverse a passage so low and
narrow that we are obliged to crawl on our hands and
knees, and descend into a small room, the ground in
which is literally covered with bones and skulls: in its
centre is a columnar stalagmite, which reaches from the
ground to the rocks about eighteen feet above our heads.
There are also some other considerable stalagmites in
the room. A narrow passage leads, by a steep descent,
from this chamber to another nearly under it, also small;
and on entering which about a dozen skulls, and a pro-
portionate number of bones, are seen spread over the
ground. This then was the furthest point to which
the unhappy refugees could flee, and here the last of
them perished.
The want of a sufficient number of lights, on our
first visit, prevented my examining the cavern as I
wished : I therefore returned to it on the Sunday morn-
ing, having first obtained, from the Papas of Melidhoni,
a supply of wax candles, of his own manufacture.
The above account is the result of both my visits.
I cannot finish speaking on this subject, without
recurring to the inscription, of which I have already
made mention, and which is now wholly buried by the
mass of earth and stones heaped up at the entrance of
the cavern. The copy sent to Gruter by Pigafetta,
was made with some care, and the verses, as given below,
may now be said to contain only one word, Salvius or