64 PROC. COTTESWOLD CLUB vol. xiii. 



cut in the marble, supposed to be those of three Roman 

 soldiers, but really the figures of Jupiter between Hercules 

 and Bacchus {temp. Septimus Severus, 193-21 1. A.D.) 

 These, with other Roman sculptures, have been deposited 

 in the Academy of Fine Arts at Carrara. 



It would be tedious to enumerate all the quarries that 

 we visited, suffice it to mention that in passing to the 

 Fossa cava the marks of Roman working were plainly 

 visible where a way had been cut from one quarry to 

 another in the slate-coloured marble ; their tool marks also 

 remaining on a face of blue marble just above a modern 

 reservoir. Leaving Fossa Cava, belonging to our guide, 

 Signor Pelliccia, we crossed to a quarry belonging to a 

 Signer Catani, where some magnificent blocks of Siciliano 

 Clara had just been cut out, one weighing 200 tons. 

 Near at hand a Roman column was just peering out of 

 the debris, having been left behind by the workmen, 

 probably for some imperfection which disclosed itself in 

 the finishing. A Roman pick, similar to those in present 

 use, and recently found not far off, possibly the very one 

 used in shaping this column, was presented to us and is 

 now in the Owen's College IViuseum. Crossing a cause- 

 way which carried the road over one of the numerous 

 fissures in the marble, some semi-circular worn cavities, 

 coloured reddish from the infiltration of the red soil 

 above, indicated where water had once found its way and 

 formed swallet holes. Near here we observed a curious 

 method of quarrying. A tall scaff'olding of three stages 

 was erected against the face of the quarry over the block 

 required. Each stage was of sufficient height to allow 

 three or four men to stand upright and work an iron bar 

 (some 20 feet in length) up and down, time being kept to 

 the tune of a wild Italian song, whilst the hole was being 

 bored for blasting. 



