Page:History of Art in Phrygia, Lydia, Caria and Lycia.djvu/331

 RELIGIOUS AND MILITARY ARCHITECTURE. 315 land, to prevent a landing, which city may have been Miletus, whose southern limit joined on that of lasus, would seem to be the more likely, but for the other fact that this formidable rampart could be attacked on another point of the gulf, and taken from the rear. Consequently we are left to wonder why so great an effort should have been made for so small and uncertain a result. More- over, the dispositions exhibited in the trace of the wall are very dissimilar from those of Greek fortifications (Fig. 220) ; nor does the masonry, in which stones of enormous calibre and -2 Li FIG. 220. Plan of the Leleges' Wall. TXIER, Description, torn. iii. Plate CXLVII. irregular courses obtain, in any way resemble that of structures of the Argian colony at lasus, for example, the continuous rampart set up around their islet. The latter, along with its square towers, is built of great blocks of white marble, " bossed," 70 c. in height ; l whilst the outer face of the wall on the mainland is barely touched by the chisel (Fig. 221). Texier was the first to draw attention to the Leleges' Wall, to call it by the name he gave it, which well deserves to be studied with more care than it has as yet received ; and it is matter for surprise that, of the many travellers who have visited Caria since the French explorer, not one should have responded to the appeal he directed to his successors. 2 It is just 1 TfexiER, Description, torn. iii. p. 137. In respect to the Greek city of lasus, see E. L. HICKS, lasus (Hell. Studies, viii. pp. 83-118). a The architect Huyot, and after him Alexandre and Ldon de Laborde, had visited lasus before Tdxier ; the result of Huyot's researches were not given to the world. Made aware by a passage of Laborde ( Voy. dePAsie Mineure, fol., p. 93) of the interest of Huyot's notes and drawings deposited in the Manuscripts Cabinet of the Bibliotheque Nationale, I lost no time in consulting them. They are headed : "Notes (fun voyage de Paris a Stnyrnf, 1817-1821, autographe, Fonds fran9ais, nouvelles acquisitions, 664; 2 vols. in-fol., de planches 5080, 5081." No sketch of the wall on terra ferma ; but the problem propounded by the gigantic construction seems to have excited Huyot's curiosity, as will appear from his own words, p. 236 : " On the mainland, on the other side of the small harbour, skirting the seashore, runs a low mountain chain. A long wall, with towers flanking it on the land side, descends, ascends, and runs out to a considerable distance. Main entrance in the valley. Facing the gate, a platform upon which may have been a temple. This wall is a stupendous structure which embraces nothing but bare rocks, and no trace