PRESERVATION OP PRUITS BY SECLUSION. 191 



the Oxus, because the inhabitants of the country preserved 

 their corn in subterranean pits, the situation of which was 

 known only to those who dug them.* 



I have several times had occasion to visit in Amboise 

 what are called Ccesar's granaries, and from examining 

 the place, I think there can be no doubt that it was intend- 

 ed for the preservation of grain. About thirty feet above 

 the level of the waters of the Loire, there are dug in a dry 

 and solid calcareous rock, deep and broad excavations ar- 

 ranged in three stages separated from each other by vaults. 

 Behind the first excavations, there are formed others, and 

 separated from them by a wall of rock six or seven feet 

 thick, and within these are built, of brick and mortar, cir- 

 cular granaries of about fifteen feet in diameter : the up- 

 per part of the granaries is contracted, and the aperture, 

 which is that by which they are filled, is covered over by 

 a stone : the grain is taken from them through a hopper 

 placed at the bottom. To avoid all dampness, the space 

 contained between the walls of the granaries and those of 

 the rock is filled with fine and very dry sand from the 

 Loire. A gallery formed also in the rock communicates 

 on one side with the granaries, and on the other with a 

 staircase cut in the rock, which conducts directly to the 

 banks of the river. It would seem that the excavations 

 served as magazines of stores for daily consumption, and 

 the granaries for reserved supplies. It is difficult to con- 

 ceive of any arrangement more suitable for preserving 

 grain, or of a situation more favorable for obtaining or for 

 transporting it. 



In some warm and dry countries, it has been customary 

 from time immemorial to preserve grain, with less pre- 

 caution certainly than in the granaries above described, 

 but in situations where it could be kept for six or seven 

 years. Prosper Alpinus relates, that not far from Cairo 

 there was a high wall built, enclosing a spot of ground of 

 about two miles in circumference, which was filled every 

 six or seven years with heaps of wheat : he adds, that the 

 abundant dews of night softened the outer portions of the 

 grain and caused it to germinate, but that in a short time 

 the sun dried the young shoots, which then formed a hard 

 covering to the mass, and did not permit either air or 



* Des Fosses propres a la Conservation des Grains ; par M. le comte 

 de Lasteyrie. 



