On the Greenland, or Polar Ice—On the Tremendous Concussion of Fields of Ice—Icebergs—Magnitude of Icebergs—The Glaciers—Shower of Ice—Remarkable Frosts.
On the Greenland, or Polar Ice—On the Tremendous Concussion of Fields of Ice—Icebergs—Magnitude of Icebergs—The Glaciers—Shower of Ice—Remarkable Frosts.
Another poet thus describes the polar regions:—
The Greenland, or Polar Ice.
The following account of the Greenland, or Polar Ice, is abridged by the Editor of this work from a paper, by W. Scoresby, jun. M. W. S. published in The Memoirs of the Wernerian Natural-History Society:—
“Greenland is a country where every object is strikingly singular, or highly magnificent. The atmosphere, the land, and the ocean, each exhibit remarkable or sublime appearances.
“With regard to the atmosphere, several peculiarities may be noticed, viz. its darkness of colour, and density; its frequent production of crystallized snow in a wonderful perfection and variety of form and texture; and its astonishingly sudden changes from calm to storm, from fair weather to foul, andvice versâ.
“The land is of itself a sublime object; its stupendous mountains rising by steep acclivities from the very margin of the ocean to an immense height, terminating in rigid, conical, or pyramidical summits; its surface, contrasting its native protruding dark-coloured rocks, with its burden of purest snow;—the whole viewed, under the density of a gloomy sky, forms a picture impressive and grand.
“Of the inanimate productions of Greenland, none perhaps excites so much interest and astonishment in a stranger, as the ice, in its great abundance and variety. The stupendous masses known by the name of Ice Islands, Floating Mountains, or Icebergs, common to Davis’ Straits, and sometimes met with here, from their height, various forms, and the depth of water in which they ground, are calculated to strike the beholder with wonder: yet the fields of ice, more peculiar to Greenland, are not less astonishing. Their deficiency in elevation is sufficiently compensated by their amazing extent of surface. Some of them have been observed near 100 miles in length, and more than half that breadth; each consisting of a single sheet of ice, having its surface raised in general four or six feet above the level of the water, and its base depressed to the depth of nearly twenty feet beneath.”
The various kinds of Ice described.—“The ice in general is designated by a variety of appellations, distinguishing it according to the size or number of pieces, their form of aggregation, thickness, transparency, &c. I perhaps cannot better explain the terms in common acceptation amongst the whale-fishers, than by marking the disruption of a field. The thickest and strongest field cannot resist the power of a heavy swell; indeed, such are much less capable of bending without being dissevered, than the thinner ice, which is more pliable. When a field, by the set of the current, drives to the southward, and, being deserted by the loose ice, becomes exposed to the effects of a ground swell, it presently breaks into a great many pieces, few of which will exceed forty or fifty yards in diameter. Now, such a number of these pieces collected together in close contact, so that they cannot, from the top of the ship’s mast, be seen over, are termed apack.
“When the collection of pieces can be seen across, if it assume a circular or polygonal form, the name ofpatchis applied, and it is called astreamwhen its shape is more of an oblong, how narrow soever it may be, provided the continuity of the pieces is preserved.
“Pieces of very large dimensions, but smaller than fields, are denominatedfloes: thus, a field may be compared to a pack, and a floe to a patch, as far as regards their size and external form.
“Small pieces which break off, and are separated from the larger masses by the effect of attrition are calledbrash-ice, and may be collected into streams or patches.
“Ice is said to be loose or open, when the pieces are so far separated as to allow a ship to sail freely amongst them: this has likewise been calleddrift-ice.
“Ahummockis a protuberance raised upon any plane of ice above the common level. It is frequently produced by pressure, where one piece is squeezed upon another, often set upon its edge, and in that position cemented by the frost. Hummocks are likewise formed by pieces of ice mutually crushing each other, the wreck being heaped upon one or both of them. To hummocks, the ice is indebted for its variety of fanciful shapes, and its picturesque appearance. They occur in great numbers in heavy packs, on the edges, and occasionally in the middle of, fields and floes. They often attain the height of thirty feet or upwards.
“Acalf, is a portion of ice which has been depressed by the same means as a hummock is elevated. It is kept down by some larger mass, from beneath which it shews itself on one side. I have seen a calf so deep and broad, that the ship sailed over it without touching, when it might be observed on both sides of the vessel at the same time: this, however, is attended with considerable danger, and necessity alone warrants the experiment, as calves have not unfrequently (by a ship’s touching them, or disturbing the sea near them) been called from their submarine situation to the surface, and with such an accelerated velocity, as to stave the planks and timbers of the ship, and in some instances to reduce the vessel to a wreck.
“Any part of the upper superficies of a piece of ice, which comes to be immersed beneath the surface of the water, obtains the name of atongue.
“Abightsignifies a bay or sinuosity, on the border of any large mass or body of ice. It is supposed to be called bight, from the low wordbite, to take in, or entrap; because, in this situation, ships are sometimes so caught by a change of wind, that the ice cannot be cleared on either tack; and in some cases, a total loss has been the consequence.”
On the Tremendous Concussions of Fields of Ice.—The occasional rapid motion of fields, with the strange effects produced on any opposing substance, exhibited by such immense bodies, is one of the most striking objects this country presents, and is certainly the most terrific. They not unfrequently acquire a rotary movement, whereby the circumference attains a velocity of several miles per hour. A field, thus in motion, coming in contact with another at rest, or, more especially, with a contrary direction of movement, produces a dreadful shock. The consequences of a body of more than ten thousand millions of tons in weight, meeting with resistance when in motion, may be better conceived than expressed! The weaker field is crushed with an awful noise; sometimes the destruction is mutual: pieces of huge dimensions and weight are not unfrequently piled upon the top, to the height of twenty or thirty feet, whilst doubtless a proportionate quantity is depressed beneath. The view of these stupendous effects, in safety, exhibits a picture sublimely grand; but where there is danger of being overwhelmed, terror and dismay must be the predominant feelings. The whale-fishers at all times require unremitting vigilance to secure their safety, but scarcely in any situation so much, as when navigating amidst those fields: in foggy weather, they are particularly dangerous, as their motions cannot then be distinctly observed. It may easily be imagined, that the strongest ship can no more withstand the shock of two fields, than a sheet of paper can stop a musket-ball. Numbers of vessels, since the establishment of the fishery, have been thus destroyed; some have been thrown upon the ice, some have had their hulls completely torn open, and others have been buried beneath the heaped fragments of the ice.
Icebergs.—“The termicebergshas commonly been applied to those immense bodies of ice situated on the land, ‘filling the valleys between the high mountains,’ and generally exhibiting a square perpendicular towards the sea. They recede backward inland to an extent never explored. Martin, Crantz, Phipps, and others, have described those wonders of nature, and all agree as to their manner of formation, in the congelation of the sleet and rains of summer, and of the accumulated snow, partly dissolved by the summer sun, which, on its decline, freezes to a transparent ice. They are as permanent as the rocks on which they rest: for although large portions may be frequently separated, yet the annual growth replaces the loss, and probably on the whole, produces a perpetual increase. I have seen those styled theSeven Icebergs, situated in the valleys of the north-west coast of Spitzbergen; their perpendicular front maybe about 300 feet in height, the greencolour, and glistening surface of which, form a pleasing variety in prospect, with the magnificence of the encompassing snow-clad mountains, which, as they recede from the eye, seem to rise ‘crag above crag,’ in endless perspective.
ICEBERGS OF GREENLAND.—Page 526.
ICEBERGS OF SPITZBERGEN.—Page 528.
“Large pieces may be separated from those icebergs in the summer season, when they are particularly fragile, by their ponderous overhanging masses overcoming the force of cohesion; or otherwise, by the powerful expansion of the water, filling any excavation or deep-seated cavity, when its dimensions are enlarged by freezing, thereby exerting a tremendous force, and bursting the whole asunder.
“Pieces thus or otherwise detached, are hurled into the sea with a dreadful crash: if they are received into deep water, they are liable to be drifted off the land, and, under the form of ice-islands, or ice-mountains, they likewise still retain their parent name of icebergs. I much question, however, if all the floating bergs seen in the seas west of Old Greenland, thus derive their origin, their number being so great, and their dimensions so vast.”
Magnitude of Icebergs.—“If all the floating islands of ice thus proceed from disruptions of the icebergs generated on the land, how is it that so few are met with in Greenland, and those comparatively so diminutive, whilst Baffin’s Bay affords them so plentifully, and of such amazing size? The largest I ever saw in Greenland, was about 1000 yards in circumference, nearly square, of a regular flat surface, twenty feet above the level of the sea; and as it was composed of the most dense kind of ice, it must have been 150 or 160 feet in thickness, and in weight about 2,000,000 of tons. But masses have been repeatedly seen in Davis’ Straits, nearly two miles in length, and one-third as broad, whose rugged mountain summits were reared with various spires to the height of more than 100 feet, whilst their base must have reached to the depth of 150 yards beneath the surface of the sea. Others, again, have been observed, possessing an even surface of five or six square miles in area, elevated thirty yards above the sea, and fairly run aground in water of 90 or 100 fathoms in depth; the weight of which must have been upwards of two thousand millions of tons.”
The Glaciers.—Those vast piles of eternal ice with which it has pleased the Author of nature to crown the immense chasms between the summits of the Alps, are objects more grand, sublime, and terrific, than any others of the phenomena of nature which remain stationary. These tremendous spires and towers, of uncertain and brittle fabric, seem to forbid the attempts of travellers to explore the depth between them, oreven the rocks and rich valleys around them; but courage and perseverance have been attended with commensurate success, and we are enabled by their labours to learn previously concealed wonders, and to reason upon the causes which produced them.
Mr. Bourrit, precentor of the cathedral church at Geneva, mentions, in the relation of his journey to the glaciers of Savoy, the enterprise of Messrs. Windham and Pocock, in 1741, who, inspired by the artless relations of the peasants, descriptive of the sublimity of their country, when they descended with honey and crystals for sale, determined to visit those frightful regions of ice which had received the appellation ofLes Montagnes Maudites; or the Accursed Mountains. The gentlemen alluded to took every precaution for securing their safety; but entertaining many well-grounded fears, naturally arising from a first attempt, they did not reach any considerable distance beyond the edge of the ice in the valley of Montanvert, yet their example operated so powerfully as to induce several others to imitate them, and proceed to the boundary whence they returned: at length M. de Saussure had the resolution and courage to penetrate across the ice to the very extremities of the valleys; Mr. Coxe followed soon after: and from their publications every possible information may be obtained, of which the nature of the subject will admit.
The most astonishing phenomenon attending the glaciers, is their near approach to the usual vegetation of summer; for what can be more wonderful than to view wheat ready for the sickle, parched brown by the rays of the sun, and separated only by the intervention of a few feet, from the chilling influence of an endless bed of ice, which seems impenetrable to its rays.
Many systems and theories have been ingeniously suggested, to ascertain the first cause of the glaciers, their maintenance, and whether they increase or diminish in extent; of which, Gruner’s, improved and illustrated with actual observations by M. de Saussure, is the most rational and probable, and Mr. Coxe implicitly adopts it. Admitting that a person could be raised sufficiently above the summits of the Alps of Switzerland, Savoy, and Dauphiny, to comprehend the whole at one view, he would observe a vast chaos of mountains and valleys, with several parallel chains, the highest of which are situated in the centre, and the remainder gradually lessening as they retire from it. The central chain he would find to be surmounted by stupendous fragments of rock, towering in rude masses, which bear vast accumulations of snow and ice, where they are not decidedly perpendicular, or do not overhang their bases: on each side he would see the intervening chasms and gulfs, filled with ice, descending thence eveninto the verdant valleys, rich with foliage and cultivation. The inferior ranges of mountains, next the central, present the same appearance in a less degree; but in those more remote, the snow and ice are confined to the most elevated points; and others, still farther removed, are covered with grass and plants, which, in their turn, give place to such hills and valleys as are common in any part of the world.
Mr. Coxe divides the glaciers, in the above general survey, into two classes: the first occupy the deep valleys situated in the bosom of the Alps, and the second adhere to the sides and summits of the mountains. Those in the valleys are far more extensive than the upper glaciers; some are several leagues in length; and that of Des Bois is three miles broad and fifteen long: but they do not communicate with each other, and there are few parallel to the central chain; their upper extremities are connected with inaccessible precipices, and the lower proceed, as already mentioned, quite into the vales. The depth of these astonishing accumulations of frozen fluid vary from eighty to six hundred feet, and they generally rest on an inclined plane, where, urged forward by their own enormous weight, and but weakly supported by the pointed rocks inserted in their bases, they are universally intersected by yawning chasms, of dreadful aspect to the curious investigator, who beholds fanciful representations of walls, towers, and pyramids, on every side of him; but upon reaching those parts where the glacier rests upon an horizontal plane, his progress is seldom impeded by considerable fissures, and he walks in safety over a surface nearly uniform, and not so perfectly polished as that of ponds and rivers suddenly and violently frozen.
The absence of transparency, the various marks of air-bubbles, and the general roughness, so perfectly resemble the congelation of snow when half restored to fluidity, that M. de Saussure was immediately led to form the following probable theory of the formation of the glaciers. Snow is constantly accumulating in the recesses or depths of the mountains, during nine months of the year, by the usual fall of moisture, and the descent of vast masses, borne down by their weight, from the precipices and crags above. Part of this is necessarily reduced to water by slight thaws and casual rains, and, being frozen in this state, the glacier is composed of a porous opaque ice.
The upper glaciers Mr. Coxe subdivides into those which cover the summits, and those which extend along the sides of the Alps; the former originate from the snow frequently falling and congealing into a firm body, though not becoming actual ice, which the brilliancy of the projections has induced some philosophers to suppose it to be. M. de Saussure, havingexplored Mont Blanc, ascertained that the top was encrusted with ice, (which might be penetrated by a stick,) covering a mass of snow on the declivities, so chilled and dry as to be incapable of coherence.
The sides of the Alps support a congelation of half-dissolved snow, which is different from the pure snow of the summits, and the ice of the lower glaciers. Two causes operate to produce this effect; the first is the descent of water from the higher regions, where a dissolution of snow sometimes occurs; and the second arises from the more favourable situation of these parts for reflecting the rays of the sun, and the consequent melting of the snow. From hence downwards, the ice adhering to the cavities becomes gradually more solid by the freezing of the snow-water, then nearly divested of that air which in the less dissolved portions renders the ice, formed from it, porous, opaque, and full of bubbles.
An idea of the sublimity of the glaciers may be formed by reading the account of M. Bourrit, who appears to have viewed and described them with all that enthusiasm which such splendid objects must have inspired.—“To come at this collected mass of ice, (Des Bois,) we crossed the Arve, and travelling in a tolerable road, passed some villages or hamlets, whose inhabitants behaved with much politeness; they invited us to go in and rest ourselves, apologized for our reception, and offered us a taste of their honey. After amusing ourselves some time amongst them, we resumed our road, and entered a beautiful wood of lofty firs, inhabited by squirrels. The bottom is a fine sand, left there by the inundations of the Arveron; it is a very agreeable walk, and exhibits some extraordinary appearances. In proportion as we advanced into this wood, we observed the objects gradually to vanish from our sight; surprised at this circumstance, we were earnest to discover the cause, and our eyes sought in vain for satisfaction, till, having passed through it, the charm ceased. Judge of our astonishment, when we saw before us an enormous mass of ice, twenty times as large as the front of our cathedral of St. Peter, and so constructed, that we have only to change our situation to make it resemble whatever we please. It is a magnificent palace, cased over with the purest crystal; a majestic temple, ornamented with a portico; and columns of several shapes and colours; it has the appearance of a fortress, flanked with towers and bastions to the right and left; and at the bottom is a grotto, terminating in a dome of bold construction. This fairy dwelling, this enchanted residence, or cave of fancy, is the source of the Arveron, and of the gold which is found in the Arve. And if we add to all this rich variety, the ringing tinkling sound of water droppingfrom its sides, with the glittering refraction of the solar rays, whilst tints of the most lively green, blue, yellow, or violet, have the effect of different compartments in the several divisions of the grotto, the whole is so theatrically splendid, so completely picturesque, so great and beautiful beyond imagination, that I can hardly believe the art of man has ever yet produced, or ever will produce, a building so grand in its construction, or so varied in its ornaments. Desirous of surveying every side of this mass, we crossed the river about four hundred yards from its source, and, mounting upon the rocks and ice, approached the vault; but while we were attentively employed in viewing all its parts, astonished at the sportiveness of nature, we cast our eyes at one considerable member of the pile above us, which was most unaccountably supported, for it seemed to be held by almost nothing: our imprudence was too evident, and we hastened to retreat; yet scarcely had we stepped back thirty paces, before it broke off all at once with a prodigious noise, and tumbled, rolling to the very spot where we were standing just before.”
Shower of Ice.—A very uncommon kind of shower fell in the west of England, in December 1672, whereof we have various accounts in the Philos. Trans.—“This rain, as soon as it touched any thing above ground, as a bough or the like, immediately settled into ice; and, by multiplying and enlarging the icicles, broke every thing down by its weight. The rain that fell on the ground immediately became frozen, without sinking into the snow at all. It made an incredible destruction of trees, beyond any thing mentioned in history. Had it concluded with a gust of wind, (says a gentleman who was on the spot,) it might have been of terrible consequence. I weighed the sprig of an ash tree, of just three-quarters of a pound, the ice on which weighed sixteen pounds. Some were frightened with the noise in the air, till they discerned that it was the clatter of icy boughs, dashed against each other.”
Dr. Beale remarks, that there was no considerable frost observed on the ground during the above: whence he concludes, that a frost may be very intense and dangerous on the tops of some hills and plains; while at other places it keeps at two, three, or four feet distance above the ground, rivers, lakes, &c. and may wander about very furiously in some places, and be mild in others not far off. The frost was followed by glowing heats, and a wonderful forwardness of flowers and fruits.
We close this division with an account ofRemarkable Frosts.—In the year 220, a frost in Britain lasted fivemonths.—In 250, The Thames was frozen nine weeks.—291, Most rivers in Britain frozen six weeks.—359. Severe frost in Scotland for fourteen weeks.—508, The rivers in Britain frozen for two months.—558, Danube quite frozen over.—695, Thames frozen six weeks, and booths built on it.—759, Frost from Oct. 1 till Feb. 26 following.—827, Frost in England for nine weeks.—859, Carriages used on the Adriatic.—908, Most rivers in England frozen two months.—923, The Thames frozen thirteen weeks.—987, Frost lasted 130 days; begun Dec. 22.—998, Thames frozen five weeks.—1035, Severe frost on June 24: the corn and fruits destroyed.—1063, The Thames frozen fourteen weeks.—1076, Frost in England from Nov. till April.—1114, Several wooden bridges carried away by ice.—1205, Frost from Jan. 15 till March 22.—1407, Frost that lasted fifteen weeks.—1434, From Nov. 24 till Feb. 10, Thames frozen down to Gravesend.—1683, Frost for thirteen weeks.—1708-9, An extraordinary frost throughout the most parts of Europe, though scarcely felt in Scotland or Ireland.—1715, Severe frost for many weeks.—1739, One for nine weeks; begun Dec. 14.—1742, Severe frost for many weeks.—1747, Severe frost in Russia.—1754, Severe one in England.—1760, The same in Germany.—1776, The same in England.—1788, The Thames frozen below London bridge; and booths erected on it.—1795, The Zuyder Zee frozen over, and the rivers of Holland passed by the French.
CURIOSITIES RESPECTING RUINS.
Ruin at Siwa, in Egypt—Ruins of Palmyra—Ruins of Herculaneum, and Pompeii—Ancient Ruins of Balbec—Ruins of Agrigentum, in Sicily—Ancient Grandeur of Carthage.
Ruin at Siwa, in Egypt—Ruins of Palmyra—Ruins of Herculaneum, and Pompeii—Ancient Ruins of Balbec—Ruins of Agrigentum, in Sicily—Ancient Grandeur of Carthage.
Ruin at Siwa, in Egypt.—A great curiosity about Siwa, is a ruin, of undoubted antiquity, which, according to Mr. Browne, resembles exactly those of Upper Egypt, and was erected and adorned by the same intelligent race of men. The figures of Isis and Anubis are conspicuous among the sculptures; and the proportions are those of the Egyptian temples, though in miniature. What remains of it, is a single apartment, built of massy stones, of the same kind as thoseof which the pyramids consist. The length is thirty-two feet, the height eighteen, the width fifteen. A gate at one end forms the principal entrance; and two doors open opposite to each other. The other end is quite ruinous. In the interior are three rows of emblematical figures, representing a procession; and the space between them is filled with hieroglyphic characters. It has been supposed, with some degree of probability, that Siwa is the Siropum of Pliny, and that this building was coeval with the famous temple of Jupiter Ammon, and a dependency on it.
Ruins of Palmyra.—These celebrated ruins consist of temples, palaces, and porticos, of Grecian architecture; and lie scattered over an extent of several miles. They were accidentally discovered by some English travellers from Aleppo, above a century ago. The most remarkable of them is the temple of the sun, of which the ruins are spread over a square of 220 yards. It was encompassed with a stately wall, built of large square stones, and adorned with pilasters within and without, to the number of sixty-two on a side. Within the court are the remains of two rows of noble marble pillars, thirty-seven feet high, with their capitals, of most exquisite workmanship. Of these, only fifty-eight remain entire, but they appear to have gone round the whole court, and to have supported a double piazza. The walks opposite the castle appear to have been spacious. At each end of this line are two niches for statues, with their pedestals, borders, supporters, and canopies, carved with the utmost propriety and elegance. The space within this inclosure seems to have been an open court, in the middle of which stood the temple, encompassed with another row of pillars of a different order and much taller, being fifty feet high; but of these, sixteen only remain. The whole space contained within these pillars is fifty-nine yards in length, and near twenty-eight in breadth.
The temple is thirty-three yards long, and thirteen or fourteen broad. It points north and south; and exactly in the middle of the building on the west side, is a most magnificent entry, on the remains of which are some vines and clusters of grapes, carved in the most masterly imitation of nature that can be conceived. Just over the door are discerned a pair of wings, which extend its whole breadth; but the body, whether of an eagle or an angel, is destroyed. The north end of this temple is adorned with the most curious fret-work in bas-relief; and in the middle is a dome, or cupola, about ten feet diameter.
North of this place is an obelisk, consisting of seven large stones, besides its capital. It is about fifty feet high, andjust above the pedestal is twelve feet in circumference. About a quarter of a mile from this pillar, to the east and west, are two others, besides the fragment of a third. About 100 paces from the middle obelisk, is a magnificent entry to a piazza, which is forty feet broad, and more than half a mile long, inclosed with two rows of marble pillars twenty-six feet high, and eight or nine in compass. Of these there still remain 129, but there must originally have been no less than 560. The upper end of the piazza was closed by a row of pillars.
To the left are the ruins of a stately banqueting-house, built of better marble, and finished with yet greater elegance, than the piazza. The pillars which supported it were of one entire stone. It measures twenty-two feet in length, and in compass eight feet nine inches.
In the west side of the piazza are several apertures for gates into the court of the palace. Each of these were adorned with four porphyry pillars, placed by couples in the front of the gate facing the palace, two on each side. Two of these only remain entire. They are thirty feet long, and nine in circumference. On the east side of the piazza stands a great number of marble pillars, some perfect, but the greater part mutilated.
At a little distance are the remains of a small temple, without a roof. Before the entry, which looks to the south, is a piazza supported by six pillars, two on each side of the door, and one at each end. The pedestals of those in front have been filled with inscriptions, both in the Greek and Palmyrene languages, which are become totally illegible.
Among these ruins are many sepulchres. They are all square towers, four or five stories high. There is a walk across the whole building; the space on each hand is subdivided into six partitions by thick walls. The space between the partitions is wide enough to receive the largest corpse; and in these niches there are six or seven piled one upon another. Many inscriptions have been found at Palmyra, which have occupied much of the attention of the learned.
Ruins of Herculaneum and Pompeii,—two ancient cities of Campania in Italy, which were destroyed by an eruption of Vesuvius, in the first year of the emperor Titus, or the 79th of the Christian æra, and lately rendered famous on account of the curious monuments of antiquity discovered in their ruins; an account of which has been published by order of the king of Naples, in a work of six volumes folio. The epocha of the foundation of Herculaneum is unknown. Dionysius of Halicarnassus conjectures that it maybe referred to sixty years before the war of Troy, or about 1342 B. C.; and thereforethat it lasted about 1400 years. The thickness of the heaps of lava, by which the city was overwhelmed, has been much increased by fiery streams vomited since that catastrophe, and now forms a mass twenty-four feet deep, of dark grey stone, which is easily broken in pieces. By its non-adhesion to foreign bodies, marbles and bronzes are preserved in it as in a case made to fit them, and exact moulds of the faces and limbs of statues are frequently found in this substance.
The precise situation of this subterraneous city was not known till 1713, when it was accidentally discovered by some labourers, who, in digging a well, struck upon a statue on the benches of the theatre. Many others were afterwards dug out, and sent to France by the prince of Elbœuf. But little progress was made in the excavations, till Charles, infant of Spain, ascended the Neapolitan throne, by whose unwearied efforts and liberality a very considerable part of Herculaneum has been explored, and such treasures of antiquity drawn out, as form the most curious museum in the world.
It being too arduous a task to attempt removing the covering, the king contented himself with cutting galleries to the principal buildings, and causing the extent of one or two of them to be cleared. Of these, the theatre is the most considerable. On a balustrade which divided the orchestra from the stage, was found a row of statues; and, on each side of the pulpitum, the equestrian figure of a person of the Nonian family. They are now placed under porticos of the palace; and from the great rarity of equestrian statues in marble, would be very valuable objects, were the workmanship even less excellent than it is: one of them in particular is a very fine piece of sculpture. The collection of curiosities brought out of Herculaneum and Pompeii, consist not only of statues, busts, altars, inscriptions, and other ornamental appendages of opulence and luxury; but also comprehend an entire assortment of the domestic, musical, and chirurgical instruments used by the ancients; tripods of elegant form and exquisite execution, lamps in endless variety, vases and basons of noble dimensions, chandeliers of the most beautiful shapes, pateras and other appurtenances of sacrifice; looking-glasses of polished metal; coloured glass, so hard, clear, and well stained, as to appear like emeralds, sapphires, and other precious stones; a kitchen completely fitted up with copper pans lined with silver, cisterns for heating water, and every utensil necessary for culinary purposes; specimens of various sorts of combustibles, retaining their form, though burnt to a cinder; corn, bread, fish, oil, wine, and flour; a lady’s toilet, fully furnished with combs, thimbles, rings, paint, ear-rings, and other articles.
Among the statues, which are numerous, a Mercury and a sleeping fawn are most admired by connoisseurs. The busts fill several rooms; but very few of the originals whom they were meant to imitate are known. The floors are paved with ancient mosaic. Few rare medals have been found in these ruins: the most curious is a gold medallion of Augustus, struck in Sicily, in the fifteenth year of his reign. The fresco paintings, which, for the sake of preservation, have been torn off the walls, and framed and glazed, are to be seen in another part of the palace.
The streets of the city of Pompeii are said to be daily disencumbered. Mr. Williams, a late traveller, informs us, that he entered by the Appian Way through a narrow street of small tombs, beautifully executed, with the names of the deceased, plain and legible. At the gate was a sentry-box, in which the skeleton of a soldier was found, with a lamp in his hand. The streets are lined with public buildings, the painted decorations of which are fresh and entire. There were several tradesmen’s shops also discovered—such as, a baker’s, an oilman’s, an ironmonger’s, a wine shop, with money in the till, and a surgeon’s house, with chirurgical instruments; also a great theatre, a temple of justice, an amphitheatre 220 feet long, various temples, a barrack for soldiers, (the columns of which are scribbled with their names and jests,) and stocks for prisoners, in one of which a skeleton was likewise discovered. The principal streets are about sixteen feet wide; the subordinate ones from six to ten feet.
The Ancient Ruins of Balbec.—To give a just idea of these ruins, we must suppose ourselves descending from the interior of the town. After having crossed the rubbish and huts with which it is filled, we arrive at a vacant place, which appears to have been a square; there, in front, towards the west, we perceive a grand ruin, which consists of two pavilions ornamented with pilasters, joined at their bottom angle by a wall one hundred and sixty feet in length. This front commands the open country from a terrace, on the edge of which we distinguish with difficulty the bases of twelve columns, which formerly extended from one pavilion to the other, and formed a portico. The principal gate is obstructed by heaps of stones; but, that obstacle surmounted, we enter an empty space, which is an hexagonal court of one hundred and eighty feet in diameter. This court is strewed with broken columns, mutilated capitals, and the remains of pilasters, entablatures, and cornices; around it is a row of ruined edifices, which display all the ornaments of the richest architecture.
At the end of this court, opposite the west, is an outlet,which formerly was a gate, through which we perceive a still more extensive range of ruins, whose magnificence strongly excites curiosity. To have a full prospect of these, we must ascend a slope, up which were the steps to this gate; and we then arrive at the entrance of a square court, much more spacious than the former, being three hundred and fifty feet wide, and three hundred and thirty-six in length. The eye is first attracted by the end of this court, where six enormous and majestic columns render the scene astonishingly grand and picturesque. Another object, not less interesting, is a second range of columns to the left, which appear to have been part of the peristyle of a temple; but before we pass thither, we cannot refuse particular attention to the edifices which inclose this court on each side. They form a sort of gallery, which contains various chambers, seven of which may be reckoned in each of the principal wings, viz. two in a semicircle, and five in an oblong square. The bottom of these apartments still retains pediments of niches and tabernacles, the supporters of which are destroyed. On the side of the court they are open, and present only five or six columns totally destroyed. The beauty of the pilasters, and the richness of the frieze of the entablature, are admirable. The singular effect which results from the mixture of the garlands, the large foliage of the capitals, and the sculpture of wild plants with which they are every where ornamented, is peculiarly pleasing. In traversing the length of the court, we find in the middle a little square esplanade, where was a pavilion, of which nothing remains but the foundation. On arriving at the foot of the six columns, we perceive all the boldness of their elevation, and the richness of their workmanship. Their shafts are twenty-one feet eight inches in circumference, and fifty-eight high; so that the total height, including the entablature, is from seventy-one to seventy-two feet.
The sight of this superb ruin, thus solitary and unaccompanied, at first strikes us with astonishment; but, on a more attentive examination, we discover a series of foundations, which mark an oblong square of two hundred and sixty-eight feet in length, and one hundred and forty-six wide, and which, it seems probable, was the peristyle of a grand temple, the primary purpose of the whole structure. It presented to the great court, on the east, a front of ten columns, with nineteen on each side, which, with the other six, made in all fifty-four. The ground on which it stood is an oblong square, on a level with this court, but narrower, so that there was only a terrace of twenty-seven feet wide round the colonnade; the esplanade this produces fronts the open country towards the west, by a sloping wall of about thirty feet. This descent, near the city,becomes less steep, so that the foundation of the pavilion is level with the foot of the hill; whence it is evident that the whole ground of the courts has been artificially raised.
Such was the former state of this edifice; but the southern side of the grand temple was afterwards blocked up to build a smaller one, the peristyle and walls of which are still remaining. This temple, situated somewhat lower than the other, presents a side of thirteen columns by eight in front, (in all thirty-four,) which are likewise of the Corinthian order; their shafts are fifteen feet eight inches in circumference, and forty-four in height. The building they surround is an oblong square, the front of which, turned towards the east, is out of the line of the left wing of the great court. To reach it, we must cross trunks of columns, heaps of stone, and a ruinous wall, by which it is now hid. After surmounting these obstacles, we arrive at the gate, where we may survey the inclosure, which was once the habitation of a god; but instead of the solemn scene of a prostrate people, and sacrifices offered by a multitude of priests, the sky, which is open, from the falling in of the roof, only lets in light to shew a chaos of ruins covered with dust and weeds. The walls, formerly enriched with all the ornaments of the Corinthian order, now present nothing but pediments of niches and tabernacles, of which almost all the supporters are fallen to the ground. Between these niches is a range of fluted pilasters, whose capitals support a broken entablature; but what remains of it displays a rich frieze of foliage, resting on the heads of satyrs, horses, bulls, &c. Over this entablature was the ancient roof, which was fifty-seven feet wide, and one hundred and ten in length. The walls which supported it are thirty-one feet high, and without a window. It is impossible to form any idea of the ornaments of this roof, except from the fragments lying on the ground; but it could not have been richer than the gallery of the peristyle: the principal remaining parts contain tablets in the form of tables, on which are represented Jupiter seated on his eagle, Leda caressed by the swan, Diana with her bow and crescent, and several busts, which seem to be figures of emperors and empresses.
Ruins of Agrigentum, in Sicily.—The present town, Girgenti, occupies the mountain on which the ancient citadel stood. At the north-east angle of the ancient limits, upon some foundations of large irregular stones, a church has been erected; a road appears hewn in the solid rock, for the convenience of votaries, who visited this temple in ancient days. It was then dedicated to Ceres and her daughter Proserpine, the peculiar patronesses of Sicily. Bishop Blaise has succeeded to their honours.
At the south-east corner, where the ground, rising gradually, ends in a bold eminence, which is crowned with majestic columns, are the ruins of a temple, said to have been consecrated to Juno. To the west of this, stands the building commonly called the Temple of Concord; the stone of which, and the other buildings, is the same as that of the neighbouring mountains and cliffs, a conglutination of sea-sand and shells, full of perforations,—of a hard and durable texture, and a deep reddish brown colour. This Doric temple has all its columns, entablature, pediments, and walls, entire; only part of the roof is wanting. It owes its preservation to the piety of some Christians, who have covered half the nave, and converted it into a church, consecrated under the invocation of St. Gregory, bishop of Girgenti.
In the same direction are rows of sepulchres cut in the rock. Some masses of it are hewn into the shape of coffins; others are drilled full of small square holes, employed in a different mode of interment, and serving as receptacles of urns. One ponderous piece of it lies in an extraordinary position; by the failure of its foundation, or the shock of an earthquake, it has been loosened from the general quarry, and rolled down the declivity, where it now remains supine, with the cavities turned upwards.
Only a single column marks the confused heap of moss-grown ruins belonging to the temple of Hercules. It stood on a projecting rock above a chasm in the ridge, which was cut through for a passage to the port.
In the same tract, over some hills, is situated the Tomb of Thero. It is surrounded by aged olive-trees, which cast a wild irregular shade over the ruin. The edifice inclines to the pyramidal shape, and consists at present of a triple plinth, and a base supporting a square pedestal: upon this plain solid foundation is raised a second order, having a window in each front, and at each angle two Ionic pilasters, crowned with an entablature of the Doric order. Its inside is divided into a vault, a ground room, and one in the Ionic story, communicating with each other by means of a small internal staircase.
In the plain are seen the fragments of the temple of Æsculapius: part of two columns and two pilasters, with an intermediate wall, support the end of a farm-house, and were probably the front of the cells.
Towards the west are the gigantic remains of the temple of Jupiter Olympus, minutely described by Diodorus Siculus. It may literally be said, that it has not one stone left upon another; and it is barely possible, with the help of much conjecture, to discover the traces of its plan and dimensions. Diodorus calls it the largest temple in the whole island;but adds, that the calamities of war caused the work to be abandoned before the roof could be put on; and that the Agrigentines were ever after reduced to such a state of poverty and dependence, that they never had it in their power to finish this superb monument of the taste and opulence of their ancestors. The length of this temple was 370 Greek feet, its breadth 60, and its height 220, exclusive of the foundation; the extent and solidity of its vaults and underworks, its spacious porticos and exquisite sculpture, were suited to the grandeur of the whole.
The next ruin belongs to the temple of Castor and Pollux: vegetation has covered the lower parts of the building, and only a few fragments of columns appear between the vines. This was the point of the hill where the wall stopped on the brink of a large fishpond, spoken of by Diodorus: it was cut in the solid rock thirty feet deep, and water was conveyed to it from the hills. In it was bred a great quantity of fish, for the use of public entertainments; swans, and various other kinds of wild fowl, swam along its surface, for the amusement of the citizens; and the great depth of water prevented an enemy from surprising the town on that side. It is now dry, and used as a garden.
On the opposite bank are two tapering columns without their capitals, placed in a tuft of carob trees. Monte Toro, where Hanna encamped with the Carthaginian army, before the Roman consuls drew him into an engagement that ruined his defensive plan, is a noble back-ground in this picturesque group of objects.
The whole space, comprehended within the walls of the ancient city, abounds with traces of antiquity, foundations, brick arches, and little channels for the conveyance of water; but in no part are there any ruins that can be presumed to have belonged to places of public entertainment. This is the more extraordinary, as the Agrigentines were fond of shows and dramatic performances; and the Romans never dwelt in any place long, without introducing their savage games.
We conclude this division of Curiosities by a description of theAncient Grandeur of Carthage.—At the third Punic war, Carthage appears to have been one of the first cities in the world. It was no less than 360 stadia, or forty-five miles, in circumference, and was joined to the continent by an isthmus, twenty-three stadia, or three miles and a furlong, in breadth. On the west side projected a long tract of land, half a stadium broad; which shooting out into the sea, separated it from a lake, or morass, and was strongly fortified on all sides by rocks and a single wall. In the middle of the city stood the citadel of Byrsa, having on the top of it atemple sacred to Æsculapius, seated upon rocks, to which the ascent was by sixty steps. On the south side the city was surrounded by a triple wall, thirty cubits high; flanked all round by parapets and towers, at equal distances of 480 feet. Every tower had its foundation sunk thirty-two feet deep, and was four stories high, though the walls were but two: they were arched; and in the lower part, corresponding in depth with the foundations above-mentioned, were stalls, large enough to hold 300 elephants, with their fodder, &c. Over these were stalls and other conveniences for 4000 horses; and there was likewise room for lodging 20,000 foot and 4000 cavalry, without incommoding the inhabitants. There were two harbours, which had one common entrance, seventy feet broad, and shut up with chains. The first was appropriated to the merchants, and included in it a vast number of places of refreshment, and all kinds of accommodations for seamen. The second, as well as the island of Cothon in the midst of it, was lined with large quays, in which were receptacles for sheltering 220 ships of war. Over these were magazines of all sorts of naval stores. The entrance into each of these receptacles was adorned with two marble pillars of the Ionic order, so that both the harbour and island represented on each side two magnificent galleries. Near this island was a temple of Apollo, in which was a statue of the god, of massy gold; and the inside of the temple was lined with plates of the same metal, weighing 1000 talents. The city was twenty-three miles in circumference, and contained 700,000 inhabitants.
“All that remains, (says Dr. Shaw,) of this once famous city, are,—the area of a spacious room upon one of the hills on which it stood, commanding the south-east shore, with several smaller ones at a little distance from it; the common sewers, which time has not in the least injured or impaired; and the cisterns, which have shared only in a small degree the general ruin of the city.”
CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ANCIENT BUILDINGS, TEMPLES, & OTHER MONUMENTS OF ANTIQUITY.