34 
not asserting that its greatest diame- 
ter is at least twelve feet, and its depth 
eighteen. It is generally conceived to 
have been a reservoir of water, and that 
a fort was built on the rock. 
At the feot of the hill, between the 
two forts, is a small village, the inha- 
bitants of which seem truly happy. I 
breakfasted with a peasant, who gave 
me the best reception which I had yet 
had in Sicily. I don’t mean to say, 
however, that I have cause to complain 
of the Sicilians. After the first sur- 
prise which my quality of Frenchman 
caused them, I found them always ho- 
nest, and even obliging ; and these peo- 
ple, not having seen any Frenchmen for 
a long time, have only the idea which 
our friends, the English, have left re- 
specting us ; they are almost astonish- 
ed to see us with human forms. 
‘ We desceuded the opposite side of 
the hill, by the extremity of Neapolis, 
in coasting along a second aqueduct, 
(dug also in the rock) which conducted 
the water into that part of thecity. Un- 
til this place the whole mountain seem- 
ed to me a volcanic swelling, and soon 
after I found at the foot of it some 
stones really volcanic, and two black 
apertures, from whence they had pro- 
bably issued. These caverns are not 
more extraordinary than those of Fez, 
in Africa, which throw out smoke, 
and sometimes flames; but it is sur- 
prising to see here neither ashes nor 
lava. 
Tarrived, by a better road, across a 
wood of thinly-planted olives, at a 
theatre dug in the rock; it is vast 
and of a very picturesque effect. A . 
mill, trees, and reeds occupy the mid- 
dle of it. Its upper diameter is 444 
spans; the steps are eighteen inches 
high, and over two of them, larger than 
thesothers, is a Greek inscription, indi- 
cating the divinities to whom it was 
dedicated. Above the theatre is the 
mouth of the first aqueduct, which 1 
have before mentioned; the water es- 
capes from it and falls into a cavern of a 
very singular form. Under the latter 
is the aperture of another vanal, which, 
I was told, was to receive the waters of 
the first, in the event of the enemy 
having destroyed it. I cannot conceive 
why it was then dug immediately un- 
der the other; I think it was for quite 
another purpose. 
About fifty paces from the cavern is 
aspace, fifteen feet wide, and the same 
in height, dug in the rock, and which 
is prolonged toadistance. Do not ima- 
Letters from the South of Italy. 
[ Feb. 1, 
gine, however, that this has been a 
subterraneous place; its upper extre- 
mity is on a level with the soil. 
It is called the Street of the Tombs. 
On both sides are square doots, which 
lead into chambers carelessly dug, each 
of which contains the remains of two, 
three, and often four individuals ; some, 
however, contain only one; the third 
on the left for instance, which is said to 
be that of Archimedes; but there no 
longer remains any thing in these asy- 
lums where we might have hoped for 
peace; cupidity has destroyed all, no- 
thing is to be seen but the place where 
the marble inscriptions were found. 
In vain would you seek for that sphere 
inscribed in a cylinder, which Cicero 
saw at the entrance of the greatest 
tomb of the Syracusans. 
In returning towards Syracuse along 
the theatre, you arrive on the steep 
banks of a vast excavation, the bottom 
of which, covered with trees, resembles 
areal garden; it is the quarry from 
whence the pillars of the temple of Mi- 
nerva, and probably the materials of a 
great part of Syracuse were taken. In 
the middle, ona kind of tower or pyra- 
mid, contrived in the rock, are the re- 
mains of a sthall monument, where sat 
the guard of the prisons established in 
this place. These quarries are immense, 
and, in some parts, the capacity of the 
vaults is frightful by its extent. In the 
time of Dionysius, the tyrant, an infi- 
nite number of prisoners passed their 
lives in this sad abode, and even mul- 
tiplied their species. 
You have read of the famous ear 
of Dionysius, which is in this same ex- 
cavation. I know not why this name 
has been given fo an excavation, which 
has truly the form of an ass’s ear. 
Dionysius was first a king of Syracuse, 
and afterwards a professor and school- 
master at Corinth; so that when he 
could no longer tyrannize over men, 
he was determmned: to do it over chil- 
dren. The interior is a corridor turn- 
ing to the right to return afterwards to 
the left, and which suddenly stops, as 
if it had not been finished. It is 252 
feet long, eighteen in width at the en- 
trance, and thirty at the middle. The 
height is eighty feet, and the vault be- 
coming narrower at the top, carried the 
sounds into a small square room, where 
Dionysius placed himself to hear the 
conversation of the prisoners. You 
mount into this chamber in a basket, 
to which a rope is attached. The 
acoustic properties of this cavern in- 
duced 
